Organic Coffee Causes College Buzz

The greening of college campuses continues to expand to all aspects of  student life: Due to recent high demand, now the college student’s beloved cup of Joe so necessary for early mornings and late nights has gone organic.

Behind the coffee transformation is a group of suppliers that make up the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Coffee Collaboration. Suppliers such as Caffe Ibis, Green Mountain Coffee, and S&D Coffee, to name a few, supply sustainable, fair-trade coffee to hundreds of colleges across the country.

Campus food services are jumping on the piping hot bandwagon. The North American coffee market reached $1.3 billion last year, according to the recent North American Organic Coffee Industry Survey: 2009, which also documented a 29 percent annual growth rate for organic coffee since 2000, compared to conventional coffee’s 1.5 percent yearly growth rate.

Organic coffee production has a low impact on the environment while maintaining soil fertility and avoiding toxic and pesticides.  Students thus can take pleasure in knowing that as they face many sleep-deprived nights, they will be consuming a product that is much healthier for the environment.

--Michael Mullaley