Sustainable Coffee

Sustainable Coffee At Your Door

At Turk's Head Coffee Roasters we are striving to bring sustainability to the forefront of the coffee industry. Turk's Head's mission is not only to provide amazing specialty coffee roasted locally: moreover, to protect this amazing world in which we live in while enriching the lives of the farmers that provide it to us. Environmental sustainability goes hand in hand with economic and social sustainability. Which is why we aim to only work with growers that use sustainable practices. This minimizes any negative impact that growing and processing coffee may have on the environment.

Environmental Sustainable Practices Used in Coffee

Our sourcing of coffees is focused on finding sustainable farmers whose ethos is conscience of supporting the environment in a positive way. With practices such as root bending, and selective pruning along with natural shade canopies, these techniques allow farmers to grow stronger trees with a more efficient yield.

Shade canopies developed with banana trees over Arabica coffee trees provide benefits like biodiversity which allow birds, bees and small animals a more natural ecosystem. Just one coffee plantation is able to support hundreds of species of beneficial plants and animals, thus helping support the greater ecosystem at large. A robust and diverse ecological community has proven to decrease the population of insects that would otherwise damage the coffee plants, while also reducing need for insecticides.   

Water is the key element to life on earth and clean water is also essential to a healthy coffee tree and surrounding ecosystem. Removing the cascara, the cherry shells of coffee bean, at the mill creates wastewater. It is important to filter this wastewater before reintroducing the water in the the local water sources. The negative affects if not address properly are algal blooms in lakes and streams, causing an imbalance in the natural environment. To mitigate this, fermentation tanks can stop the release of natural vapors. Vetiver grass along with holding ponds are also used to treat waste water. This stops the release of byproducts, conserving the balance of the natural ecosystem and water sources.

 

Sustainable Packaging

We are conscience of the need to reduce our carbon footprint and plastics used in anyway possible. From bulk shipping more efficiently to reducing our use of petroleum based packaging. We are working towards having our products from packaging to delivery with a blend of sustainable, compostable and environmentally responsible materials.