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I’m going to explain a bit about USDA certified organic products, especieally my favorite, organic coffee.

1) Synthetic fertilizers can’t be used to grow certified organic crops.

2) Certified organic products cannot contain genetically modified plants or animals.

3) To be labeled 100% organic products may only contain organic ingredients (excluding water and salt).

4) The term “certified organic” is a little tricky.  In this case only 95% of the components need to be certified organic, but the remaining 5% must be on the USDA approved list and not be available in a non-organic form.

5) Products that are 100% Organic or Organic (95% organic) may display the USDA organic logo.

6) Food items labeled organic, such as organic coffee, must not be treated with sewage sludge (yes some crops are), or ionizing radiation.

I’m not trying to bore you with boring organic labeling information, but you need to know what you’re dealing with “organic” products.  Onto Organic Coffee.  Looking back to the meaning of certified organic, organic coffee is at least 95% organically grown beans.

Why should you care if your coffee is organic coffee?

1) Not withstanding what you think about traditional farming practices, can anyone imagine consuming coffee treated with sewage sludge?

2) There’s the whole Frankenstein gene thing.  I don’t want my cup of Joe to have gorilla genes spliced in just so the beans can have less acidity.

3) If you drink decaffeinated coffee this is where it is vital that you only consume organic coffee.  Standard decaf. coffees are decaffeinated by carcinogenic organic solvents such as methylene chloride and ethyl acetate.  Organic decaf. coffees are treated by a water method.  Recent evidence suggest that drinking decaf. leads to rheumatoid arthritis.  More studies need to be conducted to compare traditional (chemical decaf.) and water processed decaf.

4)  Not only are chemicals bad for us, but think about the innocent coffee farmers.   A good number of coffee farmers in 3rd world countries are not able to read sufficiently, which may result in improper mixing of chemicals and lack of protective clothing.

What we’ve just gone through are just a few considerations to only buy organic coffee.  It goes much deeper than the coffee itself.  A lot of toxins are released in the making of non-organic chemicals.

As a final thought, farmers that cultivate their coffees organically are paying specieal attention to the ongoing needs of their crop, resulting in high quality coffee that tastes great!  It’s never too late to start buying organic coffee.  So give it a try, you may be happy as a clam.

If you want to try some Organic Coffee, and you have no desire to run out, then check out Nectar of Life’s Coffee of the Month.