Does Coffee Make Sex Better?
Does coffee make sex better? Interestingly scientific research shows that coffee can lead to sexual arousal in females. Studies of sixtyish men and women show that coffee drinking women have sex more frequently and coffee drinking men have higher potency. A common sense finding is that coffee gives you a physical and mental boost that can carry over into more energy when making love. We posed the question last week, does coffee improve athletic performance. It turns that coffee does help. So, if your sex is of the athletic variety so much the better! And, better health is commonly synonymous with better sex. Both regular and healthy organic coffees have lots of health benefits.
Does Coffee Make Sex Better?
Coffee, Diabetes and Sex
Routine coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of Type II diabetes than folks who do not drink coffee. One of the effects of having Type II diabetes is sexual dysfunction. Does coffee make sex better? It does if it reduces the chances of getting a disease that makes sex worse or even nonexistent in your life.
Coffee, Prostate Cancer and Sex
Routine coffee consumption reduces the risk of cancer of the prostate. Surgery for prostate cancer commonly leads to impotency. Does coffee make sex better? It does if it helps you avoid having a surgery that makes you impotent!
Coffee, Alzheimer’s disease and Sex
Coffee drinkers appear to have a reduced risk of memory loss in later life. If your mate is a coffee drinker he or she is less likely to forget who you are which would seem to improve your odds of having sex this evening.
Healthy Life and Healthy Sex
Staying healthy is a key factor in having a healthy sex life. There are a whole host of benefits of drinking coffee from reduction of cancer risk to less diabetes to less depression. In short, drinking coffee along with a healthy diet and regular exercise would seem to lead to good health and good health is commonly a prerequisite for frequent and satisfying sex.
The Social Aspect of Coffee
How about getting together for a cup of coffee? This is a nonthreatening way to start to know someone. Taking a coffee break gets us away from many of the annoyances of the work a day world. Even for old married couples taking a break to sit down at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee and a chat can lead to a follow up session in the bedroom. Does coffee make sex better? It seems to help performance in men and desire in women. Coffee perks us up and makes us present to the world and to those whom we love. Coffee helps prevent a lot of diseases which in turn make sex difficult or impossible. So, do not overdo it as you probably do not need a dozen cups a day and if there is an issue which you should discuss with your doctor please do that. So, get out the organic whole bean coffee, grind just enough to brew and make a couple of cups of coffee and sit down to chat with someone near and dear to you.
Does Irish Coffee Make Sex Better?
Does Coffee Enhance Athletic Performance?
If you are a morning jogger, weekend soccer player or weight lifter does coffee enhance athletic performance? Does it cause problems? Is there any prohibition to the use of coffee as a stimulant in organized sports? The last question is the easiest to answer. Coffee is considered a food or beverage and its use is not restricted in organized sports. But, will coffee give you the jitters just when you want to calm down? And will coffee give you that extra boost as you approach the end of your run? Is it better for an athlete to drink healthy organic coffee to avoid the impurities often found in regular coffee? Here are a few facts and few thoughts on the question, does coffee enhance athletic performance?
Does Coffee Enhance Athletic Performance?
What Does Coffee Do for the Athlete?
We know that coffee wakes you up if you are sleepy. This is probably more important in in interactive sports like tennis, soccer, basketball, etc. where it is important to pay attention no matter how tired you are. But, how does coffee enhance athletic performance in sports like long distance running or weight lifting? Here is the Cliff Notes version.
- Via a series of chemical regulatory pathways in the human body the caffeine in coffee affects the regulation of glycogen, sugars and lipid metabolism and stimulates the release of adrenaline.
- Coffee can be effective to enhance performance when ingested as close as fifteen minutes before exercise or competition although an hour before is ideal to insure complete absorption and initiation of the regulatory pathways the help coffee enhance athletic performance.
- Coffee is effective in enhancing athletic performance in moderate amounts, three to six milligrams per kilogram of body weight and larger amounts do not appear to help.
- An eight ounce cup of brewed coffee contains from 100 to 200 milligrams of caffeine.
- A 154 pound runner weighs 70 kilograms.
- Since three milligrams per kilogram times seventy kilograms comes to just over 210 milligrams it turns out that one stiff cup of coffee taken within an hour of performance will likely enhance athletic performance.
- Two cups may be better but three will be a waste of time.
Caffeine and Athletic Performance
Thus drinking coffee increases adrenaline. Adrenaline increase heart rate and blood flow, increases blood flow specifically to the brain and helps improve short term speed and endurance. Scientifically, the caffeine in coffee is an ergogenic aid for sustaining a high degree of effort over the short term. And coffee only lasts just so long and then the body metabolizes and excretes it. Typically half of the caffeine that you ingest at 7 am is gone by 1 pm (a six hour half-life). If our hypothetical 154 pound runner drinks two cups of coffee and gets 400 milligrams into his system he will still have 200 milligrams six hours later. This is plenty of time for a slow marathon runner to complete the course or for someone to complete a soccer match. Besides the other good health effects of drinking coffee, you may play a better tennis match or score more goals in soccer as coffee enhances athletic performance.
Does Coffee Enhance Athletic Performance?
Weightlifting
There is no compelling scientific evidence that drinking coffee enhances athletic performance in power sports like weightlifting. There is likely no increase in muscle mass with drinking coffee. To the extent that a weight lifter or any athlete wants to stay generally healthy and avoid bad things in their diet, regular and organic coffee antioxidants are a good choice. These substances are known to have a whole host of good effects such reducing the risk of diabetes and various forms of cancer. You may be healthier from drinking organic coffee but you will probably not be able to lift heavier weights.
Irish Coffee
Antioxidant Rich Diet
Stay healthy with an antioxidant rich diet. Antioxidants are substances found in healthy organic coffee and other foods. They help reduce the incidence of Type II Diabetes, many forms of cancer, depression and diseases as diverse as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Although there are foods and beverages that contain higher concentrations of antioxidants, coffee is the leading source of these helpful substances simply because people drink a lot of coffee. Here is some recent information regarding better health with an antioxidant rich diet.
Antioxidants and Blood Sugar
We knew that regular and organic coffee antioxidants help reduce the risk of diabetes but now it is clear that an antioxidant rich diet can lower blood sugar. The antioxidants involved are polyphenols and are found in large quantities in the following foods and drinks. The following is a partial list from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Identification of the 100 richest dietary sources of polyphenols: an application of the Phenol-Explorer database.
| Food or Drink | Polyphenol Content as mg/100g |
| Cloves | 15,188 |
| Dried peppermint | 11,960 |
| Star anise | 5,460 |
| Cocoa powder | 3448 |
| Dried Mexican oregano | 2319 |
| Celery seed | 2094 |
| Black chokecherry | 1756 |
| Dark Chocolate | 1664 |
| Flaxseed meal | 1528 |
| Black elderberry | 1359 |
| Chestnut | 1215 |
| Dried common sage, rosemary, spearmint and thyme | 1207-878 |
| Lowbush blueberry | 836 |
| Black Olive | 569 |
| Green Olive | 346 |
| Coffee | 214 |
| Almonds | 187 |
| Red Wine | 101 |
| Green tea | 87 |
As is apparent from the table, there are food sources that extremely rich in polyphenols and can help contribute to an antioxidant rich diet. As a practical matter you are probably not going to eat large quantities of cloves, dried peppermint or star anise. But you may use cocoa powder in cooking or to make hot chocolate. Dark chocolate comes in high on the list but sage and the other seasonings are commonly not eaten in great quantities. Coffee has about a seventieth the concentration of polyphenols as cloves but one is certainly likely to consume much greater than seventy times as much coffee in a day, week, month or year than cloves.
Practical Steps for an Antioxidant Rich Diet
A practical approach is to add enough antioxidants to your diet to make a difference. This has to be done on a daily basis and has to be realistic. Olives and olive oil can be used for cooking and on salads every day. A cup of hot cocoa can be a routine part of a diet as can two, three or four cups of coffee every day. Cloves, oregano and seasonings such as thyme, sage and rosemary all are great sources for an antioxidant rich diet and can routinely be used in cooking. But quantity is important. That is where coffee, tea, cocoa and olives or olive oil are essential for an antioxidant rich diet.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee
Study after study has shown that daily consumption of antioxidant rich coffee is beneficial to your health. Healthy coffees such as the many Colombian organic coffee brands are great antioxidant sources and great tasting as well. For help finding the organic coffee that you like contact us at Buy Organic Coffee today.
Coffee Flavored Electronic Cigarettes
Here is a scary idea, coffee flavored electronic cigarettes! The point of our writing about healthy organic coffee is that coffee is generally good for you and organic coffee is free of many of the impurities that can creep into regular coffee. Now we understand that having a cigarette after a morning cup of coffee is still a routine for some folks. And we understand that many folks are trying to stop smoking and go the route of electronic cigarettes. But, PLEASE, give us a break! Coffee flavored electronic cigarettes???
Give Up Tobacco and Not Coffee
A friend of ours is trying, again, to quit smoking. She beat the habit for more than a decade but says that on a Saturday morning at home when she put down her cup of Panama mountain grown organic coffee that she still reached for her pack of cigarettes after a decade of not smoking. Then at a social event she was offered a cigarette and the next thing she knew she was up to a pack a day. So, our friend looked into electronic cigarettes as a way to wean herself off the habit and reduce her intake of carcinogens along the way. Now she tells us that electronic cigarette makers are offering all sorts of flavors to go with the nicotine cartridge that you put in the electronic cigarettes. There are tobacco flavors and menthol flavors, tea flavors and grape flavors, cherry, chocolate milk and cola flavors. But, now they are offering a coffee flavor. I beg your pardon!!! The whole idea of quitting tobacco smoking is healthy but you do not need or want to quit your coffee at the same time! Coffee is good for you. Keep repeating that.
Coffee, Not Coffee Flavored
A good reason for drinking organic coffee is the organic coffee antioxidants in the coffee. These chemicals have great health benefits including the reduction of various forms of cancer, Type II diabetes, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. You do not get any of these benefits from the coffee flavored electronic cigarettes. In fact where is the organic part of all this? You can buy organic tobacco for ceremonial use but no one is claiming that the nicotine or flavoring in coffee flavored electronic cigarettes is organic.
Stick with Your Organic Coffee and Stop Smoking
Smoking is bad for you. Coffee is good for you. If you need help in quitting smoking and electronic cigarettes work for you go for it. But, PLEASE, do not mistake the fake flavor of coffee flavored electronic cigarettes for the rich flavor and aroma of Colombian brands of organic coffee. That is just WRONG! We wrote recently about three good reasons to drink coffee. Coffee reduces the incidence of several bad diseases and it perks you up. In fact it reduces the incidence of depression. Get rid of you coffee flavored electronic cigarettes and drink real healthy organic coffee. Realize the benefits of coffee consumption while you wean yourself off your tobacco habit.
Three Good Reasons to Drink Coffee
There are three good reasons to drink coffee. Coffee wakes you up and puts you in touch with the world. Coffee contains antioxidants that help prevent various forms of cancer and even Type II Diabetes. And coffee helps prevent depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and more. These three good reasons to drink coffee come on top of the fact that a great cup of healthy organic coffee tastes great. We at Buy Organic Coffee typically write about the benefits of coffee grown under sustainable conditions and delivered to you without many unnecessary impurities. But, today our focus is on coffee in general, and three good reasons to drink coffee.
Coffee, Diabetes and Cancer
Quite a while back we wrote about how more coffee can lead to less diabetes. Drinking organic coffee reduces the incidence of Type II diabetes, the type that affects 95% of people with the disease. Researchers have found that women who drink at least four cups of coffee a day have less than half the incidence of Type II diabetes as women who do not drink coffee. The American Diabetes Association says that nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes of which more than 9 in 10 have the Type II variety. That comes to about 22 million people with Type 2 diabetes. The fact that more coffee can lead to less diabetes could be a significant issue in US public health. Drink four cups or more a day and you can expect to reduce your chances of getting this type of diabetes by half. And, you can avoid cancer by drinking coffee. Cancers of the prostate, endometrium, colon, liver and skin all appear to be reduced in incidence in coffee drinkers. Browse our site for articles about this issue.
Other Disease That Coffee Helps You Avoid
Studies of large populations over many years show us that coffee drinkers typically have lower incidences of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and suicide. In some cases it is the caffeine in coffee that helps and in some cases antioxidants in coffee are responsible for the beneficial health effects. Either way there several bad diseases and conditions that are less prevalent in coffee drinkers.
Drink Coffee Because You Like To
If drinking coffee were just about the health issues our three good reasons to drink coffee would be about three good reasons to take a pill with coffee extract in it. Coffee is a great morning wake up drink. And coffee is a social drink. We meet friends for a cup of coffee. Whether you like coffee from Sumatra or Colombian organic coffee brands, Panama Mountain Grown organic coffee or Kona coffee from Hawaii, coffee is not only good for you but an enjoyable experience. Make sure to buy freshly roasted coffee beans and grind just enough for the amount of coffee that you want to make. Or, if you like, buy green coffee beans and roast enough for the week. If you want the taste of a great cup of coffee avoid letting ground coffee sit on the shelf above the stove where it loses its flavor and its therapeutic value. The three good reasons to drink coffee do depend to a degree on the coffee being fresh!
Environmentally Friendly Coffees
In general environmentally friendly coffees are organic brands of coffee. Organic coffee is grown using sustainable agricultural practices. Environmentally friendly coffees are grown without resorting to herbicides, insecticides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers. Drink healthy organic coffee and avoid the more than one hundred impurities that can be found in a cup of regular coffee. To be sure that you are buying environmentally friendly coffees look for a certification seal on the package. There are three that you can trust when looking for environmentally friendly coffees. These are the USDA seal of the United States Department of Agriculture, the UTZ seal of certification and the seal of the Rainforest Alliance.
USDA Certified Coffee
When coffee is certified organic by the USDA we know that sustainable agricultural practices were used and that the organic coffee is free of many of the pesticide, herbicide, and synthetic fertilizer residues that can be found in regular coffee products. However, USDA organic coffee certification has primarily to do with supporting sustainable agricultural practices while delivering a healthier cup of coffee to your breakfast table. But the USDA does not concern itself with an issue critical to the small organic coffee farmer, finding buyers for their organic crop.
UTZ Certified Coffee
The UTZ label tells you that the bag of coffee comes from a coffee farm that employes sustainable agricultural practices, good environmental practices and efficient farm management. Environmentally friendly coffees with the UTZ label are traced from grower to roaster. UTZ certified coffee is sold in North America, Europe, and Japan, in nearly fifty nations. According to UTZ,
UTZ Certified stands for sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers, their families and our planet. The UTZ program enables farmers to learn better farming methods, improve working conditions and take better care of their children and the environment. Through the UTZ-program farmers grow better crops, generate more income and create better opportunities while safeguarding the environment and securing the earth’s natural resources.
Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee
The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization working to preserve biodiversity. It does so for agricultural products by influencing consumers to buy environmentally friendly coffees and other produce such as bananas, cocoa, oranges, cut flowers, ferns, and tea. Rainforest Alliance certified means that the coffee that you buy was produced using good land use practices. Certified coffee farms meet a strict set of environmental standards that include preservation of the ecosystem and reduction in use of synthetic chemicals of all sorts. Like UTZ, Rainforest Alliance helps small organic coffee growers find buyers for their environmentally friendly coffees.
Environmentally Friendly but Not Certified
There are, unfortunately, many small coffee farmers who abide by strictly organic sustainable practices in growing, harvesting, processing and storing their coffee and end up selling their product locally. This is because they cannot find buyers for their coffee. One of our goals at Buy Organic Coffee is to find buyers of wholesale organic coffee who are interested in connecting with small coffee farmers, especially in Colombia and Panama. If you are interested in organic coffee in small or large quantities and especially if you would like to work with us to connect small organic coffee growers to the wider market contact Buy Organic Coffee today.
Natural Organic Coffee
Natural organic coffee is your best bet for great coffee without traces of pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers in the cup. Healthy organic coffee is grown using strict environmentally friendly farming practices. In fact, for natural organic coffee to be certified as USDA organic coffee it must meet a strict set of criteria.
Natural Organic Coffee
Natural organic coffee may simply grow beneath the forest canopy on the side of the side of mountain rain forest. Or it may be planted, interspersed with fruit trees, plantain and other trees to provide shade cover. In either case someone tends the coffee farm, harvests the coffee, sorts and stores it and ships it. According to the United States Department of Agriculture the following applies to USDA organic coffee as well as to all organic food production.
“… Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.”
Natural organic coffee certification reliably gives you a safe and flavorful coffee.
Best Brands of Natural Organic Coffee
Our strong preference is for Colombian organic coffee brands. This is coffee from the land of Juan Valdez. It turns out that the Juan Valdez trade name came from the Colombian Coffee Growers Association nearly half a century ago. It is meant to give the buyer assurance that the coffee they purchase is 100% Colombian. So, what are some Colombian organic coffee brands? Here is a thumbnail sketch.
| Colombian Organic Coffee Brands and Retail Prices in Colombia | |||
| Brand | Retail/Pesos | Retail Quantity | Retail in Dollars |
| Volcan | 20000 | 500 grams | $11.11 |
| Linea Roja | 19000 | 500 grams | $10.56 |
| Sostenible | 24500 | 500 grams | $13.61 |
| Origen | 25000 | 500 grams | $13.89 |
| Frailes | 18600 | 500 grams | $10.33 |
This table lists Colombian organic coffee brands available in the Colombian Cafetero. Prices are retail in Colombian Pesos and the US dollar equivalents are based on an exchange rate of around 1,800 Colombian Pesos to the US dollar. Purchasing Juan Valdez organic coffee, that is to say Colombian organic coffee brands, is easy in Colombia and is easy if it has been exported from Colombia. However, getting Colombian organic coffee brands sent from Colombia can be difficult. You can carry coffee out of Colombia in your luggage but expect to have to soldiers at the airport pin prick your bags of coffee and present them one at a time to a mechanical sniffer and a really large dog to check for drugs. You cannot mail coffee from Colombia to any country in the world. If you are interested in natural organic coffee from Colombia, especially in wholesale quantities and at wholesale prices, talk to us as Buy Organic Coffee today.
Wholesale Organic Fair Trade Coffee
Where do you find wholesale coffee if your preference is healthy organic coffee? Commonly, wholesale batches of organic coffee are purchased directly from coffee growers and cooperatives, whereas standard coffee commonly enters a worldwide supply chain and ends up where price, supply, and demand dictate. Coffee giants like Starbucks send their people throughout the world to find huge quantities of coffee. What do you do if you want organic coffee at wholesale prices? And what if you want to coffee grower to get a fair price for his coffee? That is where you want wholesale organic fair trade coffee.
Fair Trade Coffee
The essence of fair trade coffee is that it is produced by farmers who are members of a democratically run cooperative. The coffee is grown without the use of child labor. The coffee is organically grown in that the use of pesticides and herbicides is limited. And, importantly, the farmer receives both a minimum price for his crop and a premium for abiding by the criteria involved. Strictly speaking Fair Trade coffee is certified by one of the Fair Trade related agencies. However, there are other coffee certifications that assure one of a fair trade results without necessarily having a fair trade sticker on the bag of coffee. UTZ and Rainforest Alliance are two good choices for wholesale organic fair trade coffee without a specific fair trade label on the package.
Making a Living Growing Organic Coffee
About one percent of the seventy million tons of coffee produced each year is organic coffee. The premium paid for organic versus regular coffee runs from ten to forty percent. At issue for small organic coffee producers is the price of being certified by an agent of the United States Department of Agriculture. It can cost a small coffee grower in the mountains of Panama $500 a year to get and retain certification. If he is not getting a sufficient premium for his organic coffee the extra effort and the cost are not worth it. One route that many small growers take is to affiliate with UTZ or Rainforest Alliance. Both of these agencies teach and require an organic approach to coffee farming, avoidance of child labor and sustainable agricultural practices. They also help the small coffee grower find buyers.
Wholesale Organic Fair Trade Coffee from the Grower
What if you want to purchase wholesale organic fair trade coffee directly from the grower? How do you find coffee growers without tramping up and down the mountains of the Colombian Eje Cafetero (coffee growing axis of Colombia)? And how do you get the coffee from the farm and export it to the USA, Japan or Europe? How can you get a few bags of coffee and how can you get a ton of wholesale organic fair trade coffee? You can book a flight to Manizales, Colombia in the heart of the Cafetero, put on your hiking boots and start walking, or you can deal with folks who live and work in Latin America, specifically Panama and Colombia, and are native English speaker as well as native Spanish speakers. For more info about access to wholesale organic fair trade coffee, contact us at Buy Organic Coffee.
Organic Shade Grown Coffee
If you are looking for the best coffee, the best healthy organic coffee, you are probably looking for organic shade grown coffee. As the name implies, shade grown organic coffee is grown in the shade of a tree canopy. These habitats are commonly in a cloudy part of a mountain range. Coffee growers plant coffee where there are already trees or plant coffee along with a variety of shade trees. This sustainable agricultural practice results in high quality organic coffee. Birds nest in the shade trees which are the cornerstone of this healthy habitat. Many coffee farmers plant plantain or fruit trees along with their coffee. This practice provides shade for the coffee and a secondary crop or two to harvest. Look for USDA, UTZ or Rainforest Alliance certification when you want organic shade grown coffee. Unfortunately, there are many coffee farmers who simply harvest coffee that grows in the forest and sell locally because they cannot afford fees necessary to gain official USDA organic coffee certification of their product. The United States Department of Agriculture certifies organic shade grown coffee through its many offshore affiliates but the USDA does not help a small grower in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia or Ecuador to find buyers. On the other hand both UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance work with coffee farmers to help them market their products.
UTZ Organic Shade Grown Coffee
UTZ Organic Shade Grown Coffee
The long term goals of UTZ are good agricultural practices, safe and healthy working conditions, abolishment of child labor, and environmental protection. A UTZ grower learns to do the following and then continues to do what is needed.
- Reduce and prevent soil erosion
- Keep records of fertilizer and chemical use and use these products responsibly
- Follow good farming practices including integrated pest management
- Avoid deforestation
- Protect water sources, native and endangered species
- Use native fauna for shade grown coffee
- Train workers properly in their own language
- Implement and follow through on health and safety requirements
- Teach and require good hygiene
UTZ follows coffee from planting to the roaster, carries out yearly inspections and promotes the organic shade grown coffee brands of its clients.
Rainforest Alliance Organic Shade Grown Coffee
Rain Forest Alliance Organic Shade Grown Coffee
An alternative to organic coffee certification is for a grower to be Rainforest Alliance certified. The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization that works to conserve biodiversity. It does so for agricultural products by influencing consumers to buy what is good for the environment and good for small farmers. Rainforest Alliance certified means that the coffee that you buy was produced using good land use practices. Rainforest Alliance certified coffee is part of a broader sustainable agriculture program of tropical crops, including coffee, bananas, cocoa, oranges, cut flowers, ferns, and tea. Certified coffee farms meet a strict set of environmental standards that include preservation of the ecosystem and reduction in use of synthetic chemicals of all sorts. Like UTZ, Rain Forest Alliance helps its clients promote their organic shade grown coffee brands.
For help finding small growers of organic shade grown coffee deal with people who work where it is grown. Contact Buy Organic Coffee for more info.
Wait Five Years for a Cup of Coffee
For folks who are used to stopping by Starbucks for a cup of coffee on the way to work it may be a little difficult to imagine that they might have to wait five years for a cup of coffee! This thought is occasioned by an article we read in the online Arizona Daily Star. The article had to do with indigenous coffee growers in Mexico and the damage done to their organic coffee crops and their lives by coffee leaf rust. Mexico is the biggest exporter of USDA certified organic coffee. Many of the producers of organic coffee in Mexican state of Chiapas are indigenous families living in the cloud forest. They produce shade grown organic coffee in the Mexican highlands under the shelter of a cool forest canopy. This environment is conducive to high quality organic coffee. Unfortunately, coffee leaf rust has arrived in the highland of Chiapas. If you get your organic coffee from this region you may have to wait five years for a cup of coffee.
Coffee Leaf Rust and Organic Coffee
Leaf rust attacks coffee crops and leaf rust kills organic coffee crops. If an organic grower is unable to treat the problem with non-chemical means he risks losing his crop and his livelihood. The fungus’ proper name is Hemileia vastatrix. When it is not controlled the disease kills coffee plants and reduces coffee growers to poverty. It is known among Latin American coffee growers as roya. The issue for organic growers is that quarantine and destruction of individual plants is not always effective. Thus a grower who has put the time, effort, and money into getting organic coffee certification may lose everything unless he turns his back on organic practices and spays the heck out of his coffee plants. Then he can only sell his produce at regular coffee prices and not the higher prices that good quality organic coffee commands. If he loses his crop he needs to replant, probably after spraying the soil, and wait five years for new organically grown coffee plants to reach maturity.
Colombian Alternatives
Do you really want to wait five years for a cup of coffee? There are alternatives. We wrote some time back about the efforts of the Colombian coffee growers association in developing high quality strains of Arabica coffee that are resistant to la roya, the leaf rust. This Colombian rust resistant coffee has successfully reduced the incidence of leaf rust in Colombian crops to less than five percent. In the early 1980’s Cenicafé started work on producing a Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee. The Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee comes in two varieties, Colombian and Castillo. The first is a cross between an old Colombian variety, Caturra, and a rust-resistant strain from Southeast Asia, the Timor hybrid. Castillo is an offshoot of further cross breeding of the first Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strain. Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust from 40% to 5% from 2011 to 2013. Need to wait five years for a cup of coffee? You will not if you buy Colombian brands of organic coffee. Check in with us at Buy Organic Coffee for more info.