Colombian Leaf Rust Resistant Coffee
The story of Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee is inspiring. Leaf rust is a fungal disease that has devastated coffee plantations as far back as the mid to late 19 th century. Those with an interest in history may know that Sri Lanka (old Ceylon) used to be a coffee producer until the leaf rust wiped out all production after which the nation switched to growing tea. The coffee leaf rust spread from the East Indies to South Asia and Africa and eventually to the new world. Today a plague of coffee leaf rust threatens the livelihoods of coffee growers and workers throughout Central America. Fortunately for the coffee producing nation of Colombia, the workers at the Cenicafé have found a cure. Cenicafé is a research organization funded by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation – the folks who bring you Juan Valdez coffee . In the early 1970’s coffee leaf rust was found in the Americas. 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.
Avoid, Treating, and Curing Leaf Rust
Some time back we wrote about how leaf rust kills organic coffee crops . The concern for organic coffee growers is that when the disease has progressed too far there are only two choices. One is to spray everything sight with fungicides and the other is to dig out all of the plants, spray, wait, and replant. It is sad that the move to sun resistant coffee strains and dense planting has tended to make coffee leaf rust more prevalent. Warmer temperatures facilitate the growth of leaf rust, and so does crowding the plants. Growing plants in the shade inhibits coffee leaf rust because temperatures are lower and because fungi that grow on coffee plants in the shade tend to inhibit the growth of coffee leaf rust. A grower who wants to produce healthy organic coffee can grow his coffee in the shade and he can invest, bit by bit, in introducing Colombian rust resistant coffee strains, and others as they become available. But, for those growers who are currently hit the worst, there will typically be a three year wait before new plants reach maturity and start producing coffee.
What Is the Gene?
What is the gene or what are the combinations of genes that make the Timor variety from Southeast Asia resistant to coffee leaf rust? Is it possible to find the gene and insert it into the chromosomes of high quality Arabica coffees? This approach would likely result in a cure of the leaf rust problem even more so than the breeding efforts that have produced Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strains. But, will the organic coffee drinking community drink a coffee that has been genetically modified? This is a question for later times and later articles.
Guide to Organic Coffee Labeling
For those of you who are looking for healthy organic coffee and are constantly befuddled by unclear labeling, here is a handy guide to organic coffee labeling. Ever since 2002 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has had strict guidelines defining what constitutes organic coffee and any other organic food or drink. Another issue that we address in our guide to organic coffee labeling is that there are many great organic coffees such as some of the Colombian organic coffee brands that abide by different sets of standards such as UTZ and do not seek USDA organic coffee certification.
USDA Rules and Regulations for Organic Coffee
Organic coffee is a single ingredient food. As such coffee that qualifies as USDA organic coffee will have a USDA Organic label. When a food in general and specifically a coffee product has more than one ingredient you may see labeling such as 100% organic, organic, or made with organic ingredients. Only 100% organic coffee bears the USDA organic seal. Here is the breakdown:00% Organic (This means what it says. The package contains 100% organic products.)
- Organic (95% to 99% of this bag of coffee is organic.)
- Made with organic ingredients (This label means that 70% to 94% of the bag by weight is organic coffee.
- And, products with some organic ingredients may list them on the package as being organic ingredients.
Other Standards
UTZ certified coffee and Rainforest Alliance certified coffee commonly are organic coffees. The long term goals of UTZ are good agricultural practices, safe and healthy working conditions, abolishment of child labor, and environmental protection. However, a grower does not need to accomplish all that is required in the first year. This allows a grower to sign up to get his coffee UTZ certified, learn what is necessary, and grow into the long term requirements of the program. Because of the close tracking feature of all UTZ Certified products, consumers of healthy organic coffee produced by these growers can be assured of product quality as well as the farming practices that brought it to market. The process of getting certified by Rainforest Alliance is similar to getting UTZ Certified. Growers start by achieving partial success and grow into the eventual requirements. Rainforest Alliance requires that coffee growers meet half of the criteria for any given area of concern to start with and meet eighty percent of requirements overall. These criteria include ecosystem preservation, safety of wild animals, watershed conservation, fair hiring and labor practices, appropriate safety measures for workers, and strict adherence to agrochemical use standards. An additional feature of this program is the prohibition of genetically modified crops.
Too Expensive to Seek Certification
A coffee grower with a small farm in the highlands of Panama, Colombia, or Costa Rica will commonly produce organic coffee. At the same time he cannot pay the fee (commonly $500) to have a certifying agency come and certify him every one to three years. He needs to see a sufficient profit from getting certified and if this does not happen many will simply quit seeking certification even though they produce excellent organic coffee. It is, in fact, the goal of Buy Organic Coffee to seek out these growers and help them bring their products to a broader market.
Where to Buy Organic Food
The first thing to note is that there are several different descriptive phrases and labels that are used on organic food. You need to understand what these phrases and labels mean so that you are actually purchasing what you think you are purchasing.
* “Certified Organic”: A product with this label has been produced adhering to the organic standards mandated by the government of the United States.
* “Organic”: A product with this label contains at least 95% organic materials.
* “100% Organic” or “Certified Organic”: The term simply means that the fruit or vegetable was grown without the use of chemicals and under compliance with the U.S. rules.
* “Made with organic ingredients”: This means that 70% of the ingredients are organic.
* “Contains organic ingredients”: This term means that the product contains less than 70% organic ingredients; how much less does not have to be specified.
Organic foods and other organic or “green” products are sold at health food stores and at herbal medicine shops. Major grocery chains now carry a line of “organic” food products and other “green” products. You can also find foods that are labeled “organic” at local farmer’s markets. There are many sites online to buy organic products as well.
If you are determined to go organic, you need to remember that you are going to pay more for organic products. They cost more, but they are considered safer for human consumption by advocates for organically produced food.
Another source for organic food is a membership in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Subscribers to CSA programs receive a weekly or monthly basket of locally grown, in-season fruits, vegetables, flowers, eggs, milk, and sometimes other products like coffee or tea.
What Is Organic Food?
Organic food is any food that is produced without the use of artificial pest control, fertilization, or drugs. But in order to be certified by the government as “organic,” the food must be produced under very stringent guidelines and rules. It must meet certain set standards. Basically, just because your neighbor doesn’t use pesticides on his tomato plants, doesn’t make the tomatoes organic.
For fruits and vegetables to be certified as organic, they must be grown without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizer, or sewage sludge. The food must have been processed without the use of any kind of food additives or preservatives. Meat that is deemed organic must come from animals that have been raised without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics that are very widely used in the production of all meat-producing animals including beef, poultry, pork, lamb, etc. The animals must have been fed a diet that consists of nothing but organic feed.
A lot of the big retailers are now trying to get their cut of the rapidly growing organic food market. Even Wal-Mart, the retail giant, is not marketing “organic” foods. The key word to look for is “certified,” to be sure that the food that you are buying really IS completely organic.
There is no law against selling food deemed “organic,” but in order to be deemed “certified organic,” the farm or ranch on which the food was produced must have met rigorous standards and been certified as an organic producer. The rules and regulations are strict, and getting that designation is not free by any means.
Food that is marked “organic” can be imported from other countries that do not have the same standards as those of the United States. The term “buyer beware” applies to the organic food market.
Organic Cuban Coffee
You do not need to go to Cuba to get organic Cuban coffee. Cuban coffee has to do with how you make your coffee and not with the country of origin. Try making organic Cuban coffee with Panama Mountain Grown organic coffee or one of the Colombian organic coffee brands . You will be pleased with the results. Cuban coffee is strong espresso with a foamy layer of sugar laced with espresso across the top. Make the espresso as you normally would. The put a forth of a cup of brown sugar in a glass mixing bowl and add a tablespoonful of hot espresso. Mix using a whisk until the mixture is foamy. Pour this over each cup of steaming hot espresso and enjoy your Cuban coffee, aka Café Cubano. Use healthy organic coffee from Panama, Costa Rica, or Colombia for the best results.
Specialty Coffee
Regular or organic Cuban coffee is a nice way to add a little more zip to your coffee experience. Coffee house coffee starts with espresso and takes on a variety of flavors and textures depending on subsequent treatment of the brew. If you are not up to date on the differences between espresso and Americano, latte and cappuccino, here is our primer for coffee house coffee. All coffee house coffee, just like all Cuban coffee, starts with espresso.
Espresso
Espresso is very concentrated coffee that retains a lot of dissolved as well as suspended solids from the roasted coffee bean. It is made by forcing steam (boiling water) through fine ground coffee. It has a thicker feel because of the suspended solids and foam because of the pressurized steam. Espresso concentrates the flavors of coffee and is served in a small cup, usually an ounce (30 cc). A cup of espresso typically has between 40 and 75 milligrams of caffeine while a standard cup of percolated coffee contains about twice this much but in an 8 ounce cup. But there are more varieties of coffee house coffee than just espresso. Here are the derivatives of espresso that you can typically find at your local coffee house:
- Americano
- Breve
- Cappucino
- Latte
- Mocha
Americano
Americano is a coffee house coffee made from espresso and diluted with water. This goes back to the World War II era and after when GI’s who were used to Mom’s home perked or boiled coffee asked the barista to add water to their espresso to make it less strong. Think “weak espresso.”
Breve and Latte
Both of these are made with espresso and foam. Latte is made with steamed milk and breve is made with half and half. For latte think “coffee with milk” or café au lait and for breve think “coffee with milk and cream.”
Cappuccino
Cappuccino is made with espresso plus hot milk plus lots of steamed foam.
Mocha
Mocha is for coffee and chocolate lovers. It is made with espresso plus chocolate syrup plus milk.
Now you can add organic Cuban coffee to your list of specialty coffees.
Types of Organic Food
Fresh produce and meat that is labeled “certified organic” have been produced under conditions that comply with the laws of the United States of America. This applies to all fruits and vegetables in the produce section of your local grocery store as well as to fruits and vegetables sold at local farmer’s markets. “Certified Organic” is a label that assures you that the fresh produce and meat doesn’t contain any pesticide residue or leftover chemicals from fertilizer or any antibiotics or growth hormones. Vegetables and meats that are imported from other countries can be labeled “organic,” but they may not be labeled “certified organic.”
The thing is, we don’t just buy fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. We buy processed food products – all kinds of processed food products. We buy sugar, flour, cooking oils, seasonings, spices, breakfast cereals, health bars, milk, bread, cheese, and on and on. So how can we tell if these processed products are organic?
You need to read labels and understand precisely what the labels mean. Read the fine print:
* “Organic”: means that the product contains at least 95% organic materials.
* “Made with organic ingredients”: means that 70% of the ingredients are organic.
* “Contains organic ingredients”: means that the product contains less than 70% organic ingredients; how much less does not have to be specified.
These are labeling guidelines to help you determine whether the product is in fact organic, and whether the product is worth the additional cost to you. You have to decide if a product that is labeled “contains organic ingredients” is worth more than a similar but less expensive product that does not contain any organic ingredients. Worth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. Only you can decide whether it is worth it to you to pay a little more for products that have organic elements.
Three Reasons to Go Organic
There are probably a few dozen reasons that I could think of why people should go organic but I only get limited space here so I’ll just give you the top three reasons why I think that going organic is the thing to do.
Reason #1: Decrease the toxic load. The fact is that buying organic food as well as buying other “green” products makes the world less toxic for all living things, including but not limited to humans. Today there is only about ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT of the land that is dedicated to agriculture that uses organic farming and ranching methods. If you do the math, that means that 99.5% of the land that is dedicated to agriculture does NOT use organic farming and ranching methods. That is one serious toxic load for the world to carry. We CAN do better, and the way that we will do better is if the consumer insists that the food that we eat be raised without the use of toxic pesticides, fertilizers, and drugs.
Reason #2: Reduce pollution. Have you ever thought about what happens to those toxic pesticides and fertilizers after they are used? They don’t evaporate into thin air. Some of the chemicals in them become airborne. They pollute the air of towns and cities miles away from where they were used. The ones that don’t become airborne are washed away when it rains, and the runoff goes into the streams and rivers that supply the drinking water for all of us.
Reason #3: Bring our kids into a cleaner world. Sadly, babies are now exposed to the toxic risk of pesticides, fertilizers, and drugs before they are even born. The “tolerance” levels that have been established for the use of these toxic substances are based upon adults – not tiny babies that haven’t even been born yet.
Caffeine Withdrawal Headache
Love your healthy organic coffee? Ever forget to drink coffee because you are too busy or for whatever reason? Did you feel irritable, unable to concentrate, experience stomach or joint pain and have a headache? If so you might have had a caffeine withdrawal headache. People drink one and a half eight ounce cups of coffee a day take in about 235 mg of caffeine. If someone with this coffee intake stops drinking coffee they may experience a caffeine withdrawal headache and other symptoms as quickly as 12 hours after their last cup. Research tells us that fifty percent of people who stop drinking coffee experience a caffeine withdrawal headache for around two days.
Saturdays When No One Makes Coffee
A friend of mine was a heavy coffee drinker who consumed about ten six ounce cups a day. He only drank coffee at work where someone made coffee in the break room five days a week. He worked Saturdays until mid-day and always left work complaining of a headache. When he arrived at work on Mondays he complained of a terrible headache all weekend. The complaining stopped by mid-morning. A reportedly thorough neurologic workup failed to reveal a reason for his headaches and my friend was pleased to find out that testing failed to show a brain tumor. Then a new employee came on the scene who was also a coffee drinker and who didn’t mind making coffee on Saturdays. The fact that my friend quit complaining about headaches upon leaving work on Saturdays led us to think about the coffee. Someone suggested to my friend that maybe he could have a cup of coffee, even instant, on Sundays, and the headaches went away. We drink coffee because we like it. Along the way regular and organic coffee antioxidants provide a wide range of health benefits such as a reduction of the incidence of Type II Diabetes. But what about the headaches when we neglect our favorite brew?
Research Shows
Medical researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Vermont Medical College studied what happens with abstinence after regular coffee intake. They looked at brain waves with EEG’s, blood flow in the brain with ultrasound, and symptoms as reported by test subjects. They published their results in the journal Psychopharmacology.
The results were as follows:
- Increased blood flow velocity in the brain
- EEG changes, an increased theta rhythm
- Increased complains of fatigue
So, it is apparent that symptoms of caffeine withdrawal are not imagined even if they are all in the head.
Does A Cup Of Coffee Help A Headache?
If you are suffering from a caffeine withdrawal headache a cup of coffee is, in fact, the treatment of choice. But other headaches also seem to be helped by adding caffeine to the remedy. Many over-the-counter and prescribed headache medications contain caffeine. The addition of caffeine appears to speed up absorption of the pain medication and seems to help reduce headaches as well. The next time that you have a headache, think back to when you last had a cup of coffee. If your last cup of Panama Mountain Grown Organic Coffee was more than twelve hours ago you may want to grind a few beans a make a cup.
Best Coffee Certification
What is the best coffee certification to look for when you want great coffee? What is the best coffee certification to look for if you want a product that has a low environmental footprint? What is the best certification to look for if you want coffee that was produced without child labor, dangerous working conditions, and a fair price paid to the coffee farmer and his family? With these thoughts in mind we consider USDA organic coffee, UTZ certified coffee, and Rainforest Alliance certified coffee.
USDA Certified
The United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, provides certification for foreign coffee growers. USDA organic coffee is subject to strict standards and organic coffee with USDA certification is reliably organic.
According to the USDA, 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.” Organic coffee certification reliably gives you a safe and flavorful coffee.
USDA certification has to do with agricultural practices, sustainable agriculture, and the absence of unwanted residues in a cup of coffee. It says nothing about labor practices or a fair price for the coffee farmer.
UTZ Certification
UTZ certified coffee conforms to much of what is required of organic coffee and more. The UTZ label tells you that the coffee you are buying came from a coffee farm that employed sustainable agricultural practices, good environmental practices and efficient farm management. UTZ Certified coffee is 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
Rainforest Alliance certified coffee covers, like UTZ, a wider range of issues than whether a coffee is strictly organic in origin. 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. 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. In addition, strict health and safety requirements are part of getting Rainforest Alliance certified.
Which is the best coffee certification? Each of these certifications guarantees coffee that was produced with a minimum of environmental impact and a minimum of impurities in the coffee. USDA certification may be stricter when it comes to what is in the cup of coffee. However, both UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance are also concerned with a broader range of issues and will be the best coffee certification if child labor, fair pricing, and other issues are important in your choice of which coffee to buy.
The Truth about Organic Foods
There are those out there in the big bad world who would try to convince us that organically produced food is not a bit better or better for us than food that is produced by what is referred to as “traditional” farming and ranching methods. There is even one group that is out there trying to convince the world that organically produced food is actually detrimental to human health as well as to the health of the planet. Oh, PLEASE!
All food that is labeled “organic” isn’t, of course, actually really completely authentic. There are, however, rules and regulations that control how food can be legally labeled. When you see a food label that says “organic,” you can reasonably expect that the food has been raised without the use of chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, or drugs of any kind.
It is still difficult for a farm or ranch to be designated as “certified organic.” The process is long and it can get expensive. We don’t want to change or slacken those rules, but we can use some good old common sense – which, apparently, isn’t all that common.
You cannot tell the difference by looking at fresh fruit, vegetables, or meat whether it has been produced using organic farming and ranching techniques or not. But if it SAYS organic, then it most likely is organic.
Foods that are packaged without flavor enhancers or preservatives are also labeled as such. You can expect that foods that are labeled organic are produced using at least 70% organically produced products.
Sometimes the government does get it right. The truth-in-advertising laws are examples of the government getting it right. Only food that is produced on farms and ranches, that have met the requirements, and that have been certified can use the “certified organic” label. Still, whether the food is question is “certified organic” or just “organic,” it’s got to be a better choice!