Is your Coffee for the Birds? by Tim L. Tetzlaff

by Tim L. Tetzlaff, Director of Conservation,
Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens

Perhaps like you, I spent many a childhood hour absorbed in Looney Tunes™ and laughing at various characters’ foibles including the gag when someone like Yosemite Sam sawed the board or tree branch they stood on leading to a comedic fall. Of course, it’s not as amusing in real life when we are caught acting against our own interests. One of the more common of these examples I run across is meeting avid birders and nature lovers who are unaware their choice of morning coffee is one of the prominent causes of the precipitous decline of their feathered friends. The good news is that the best coffee for birds is also among the best for us coffee drinkers and for the people who grow it.

To understand the background of this issue, we go back not too long after some of those iconic cartoons hit the screen. Before the 1960s, most coffee grew slowly on shaded hillsides. But, to cut costs, corporations began mixing in cheaper, harsher tasting beans. To compete, many high quality coffee bean growers clear cut their shaded farms to grow beans faster in full sun. The result was a sacrifice in flavor and 94% fewer bird species living on that coffee farm.

But it’s not just birds getting the short end of the branch. Birds and other wildlife on traditional shade farms ate crop pests. Fallen leaves from the trees provided natural mulch and fertilizer. Trees also gave farmers additional crops and a fuel source from annual pruning. Without these benefits, farmers had to spend
money on pesticide and fertilizer, some of which are not applied in healthy ways.

Here’s the good news. Because Americans drink about a third of the world’s coffee, our choices can shift how coffee is grown in a positive way. How? Buy Bird Friendly® certified coffee and ask for it where you get coffee. It’s the gold standard for shade grown, organic coffee. We serve and sell this at Naples Zoo. Sadly, it’s still rare to find in stores and restaurants and even rarer to find in K-cups. I bought a couple reusable K-Cup filters to avoid the plastic pollution and now I can conveniently sip the Bird Friendly® coffee of my choice. Plus, I pay regular bag prices for great coffee instead of the $33 to $50 a pound that ordinary coffee in a K-Cup costs.

So feel great about waking up to a world that’s better for birds, the people who grow your coffee, and your taste buds. To learn more about coffee and see the many Bird Friendly® varieties you can order online, visit www.napleszoo.org/coffee. Then brew a cup as good as when those classic cartoons first played!
Until next month, that’s all folks…

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit entrusted with educating families and caring for rare species in a century old historic garden. Since 2014, Naples Zoo has invested over $3.5 million saving plants and animals in the wild and fully funds the annual salary of 27 field staff in 7 countries including three wildlife veterinarians. To learn more about how you can invest in a better future for people and wildlife, email
tim@napleszoo.org.