#6 Is Your Morning Coffee Making The World a Better Place?

Do you know what the most traded product in the world is after oil? It has the same color. Yes, you’ve guessed it - coffee. Every day 2.25 billions of coffees are consumed all around the world. There are over 250 brands and about 31,500 coffee shops in the US alone.

But enough with the numbers… Though this article is particularly hard for me to write because I don’t drink coffee. Say whaaat? Yes, ladies, gents and everybody in between, I’m in my thirties yet I don’t need coffee, at all. And no, I don’t have an allergy or ADHD. I just don’t need it. And if that’s not zero waste enough, I don’t know what is :P How is this possible??? you ask. I just drink fruit juice and have a morning stretch in front of an opened window and I swear it makes me feel younger every morning. So yes, it IS possible to live without it. Happily :)

But alas, this article IS about coffee so let’s get started.

First of all, if you’ve never heard of fair trade coffee, I urge you to google it right now and get informed about it. It’s the most vital piece of information which can help you save the world. Literally. You can save thousands of children workers and slaves.

Second, if you love coffee, do it yourself, at home. There will be no experience more worthwhile than spreading that amazing smell of freshly brewed coffee in the entire house. Laurel here (http://trashisfortossers.com/skip-cafe-make-your-coffee-at-home/) has calculated that it has saved her family about $480 a year. And by making it at home you can control how it’s made and what goes into it.

The most zero waste way to make coffee is to:
(1) buy the coffee in bulk, in a reusable bag (no plastic)
(2) grind it using a manual grinder (preferably not a plastic one)
(3) brew it using a french press (or any other way that doesn’t require plastic and electricity)
(4) add in organic soy milk (previously bought in bulk) and/or organic sugar* (again, bought in bulk)
*in case of ice coffee, add sugar that has previously been melted in lukewarm water)
(5) drink it at home or put it in a tumbler/insulated bottle and take it with you

BUSY! What if I’m busy and don’t have the time (or pleasure?) to brew it at home? Take an empty tumbler with you. A cool stainless steel tumbler with a stainless lid, and wrapped in a thick cloth for heat isolation. Ask the person at the place you always buy from to put the coffee in your tumbler.

Again, just a little change in your morning habits can make such a difference, because refusing a plastic or paper cup of coffee and not using coffee milk and syrup pods can divert sooo much plastic garbage from ending up in the landfill, our rivers, seas and oceans, and from spreading into the air in the form of CO2.

If I did drink coffee, I would feel soo good about myself for contributing to the world in a positive manner, that I’d treat myself with some fair trade chocolate to go with my fair trade coffee.

Have an amazing day!