Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven.

~Jessi Lane Adams

This very valuable question was asked and is a response to the last post. I thought it was important enough to put in plain site!

Well, I am with you on the vices. We all have them. My love affair with coffee has been on again off again as well. Here's the deal...

1. Coffee has benefits, as long as you are not drinking it every day -can lead to caffeine addiction, even in the slightest way it effects the body. So 3 or 4 time a week is preferable.

2. It MUST be organic, shade grown - there are so many pesticides and herbicides in regular coffee. This is a sad little tidbit, but the DDT we outlawed back in the 70's we sold to third world countries who use it on their crops that they sell back to us. Shade grown offers many eco benefits, but More importantly to you...no systemic poisoning to the plant. Hmmmm...

3. Fair trade - are also an important factor - this is really about honoring a delicate and valuable ecosystem as well as quality of life and fairness for a multi-billion dollar commodity to the farmers. OCA is hitting Starbucks hard for their role in popularizing coffee and taking advantage of the little guy.

4. Swiss water decaf - If you drink decaf, make it the swiss water process. There is a tremendous amount of processing that does on and this is the cleanest way available.

So...make a difference in being conscious about where you spend your dollars and enjoy your cup of joe! ~j

In number 2 what I meant was systemic, where the poisons are absorbed into the soil and feed the roots of the plant. Yikes!

If you love the coffee houses, many of them are now very aware of offering organic, fair trade and shade grown.

Here's the OCA link...http://www.organicconsumers.org/fairtrade.cfm they can be extreme, but they do have their facts correct.

Again, it is all about being aware so you can make the best choices possible.

If you have any physical concerns regarding hpb, adrenal fatigue or even intolerance to caffeine, that would be a good time to consider no longer drinking it.