How to Green Your Coffee and Tea

If you’re among the millions of people who drink coffee or tea at least once a day, consider following the suggestions below to make your coffee- or tea-drinking greener.

Most coffee shops offer customers a double paper cup to make it easier to hold hot coffee with your bare hands. Rather than use these disposable cups, buy your own mug or other reusable container and bring it along with you to the coffee shop. Many coffee shops, including Starbucks, offer a slight discount to customers who bring their own mugs due to the savings the company gets and to encourage customers to be more environmentally conscious. For instance, in 2003, Starbucks customers used their own mugs 13.5 million times, which prevented 586,800 pounds of paper waste from ending up in landfills.

Though many commodities are dominated by large corporate producers, 40% of the world’s coffee and tea is produced by independent local growers—which means that your buying decisions can have a significant impact on the direction of the overall industry. By buying shade-grown, Fair Trade Certified, and/or Certified Organic blends, such as Organic Shade Grown Mexico Coffee by Starbucks, you’ll support environmentally friendly coffee and tea and the growers who produce it. Shade-grown coffee is grown in fields that preserve the natural environment (including shade trees), fostering wildlife and reducing erosion and air pollution.

The benefits of brewing your own coffee at home are similar to those of buying food in bulk—it cuts waste and saves gas required to make trips to the store. If you do brew your own coffee or tea, be sure to use a shade-grown, Fair Trade Certified, and/or Certified Organic blend.