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How do you choose a brand of coffee to buy? After thinking about qualities such as taste and freshness, you might wonder whether it’s important to go organic. There are actually many benefits to organic coffee, both for your own health and the health of communities and ecosystems. Non-organic coffee doesn’t have these same assurances, and that may be a reason to choose organic coffee beans.
Here are five reasons for avoiding non-organic coffee. Instead, you might consider opting for a certified organic coffee brand, such as Alex’s Low-Acid Organic Coffee.
A primary rule for being organic is that the food must be produced without the use of certain synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. In other words, there are no toxic chemicals in your organic coffee, but there’s no such guarantee if you choose non-organic coffee beans. Some side effects of exposure to chemicals are skin rashes, headaches and nausea. Long-term, who knows? It’s possible that cancer risk can increase.
A lack of chemicals isn’t just good for you. It’s good for the environment. It’s been shown that a lot of the chemicals that are used in conventional farming practices can harm animals and plants in ecosystems. These chemicals are banned from organic farming practices and therefore there’s no risk they’ll harm the surrounding environment. Instead, farmers use natural techniques, including healthy prevention practices, to reduce the risk of fungal and pest infestations on their coffee beans.
What do you think might happen when strong, synthetic chemicals are not sprayed onto large crops? Those chemicals don’t get into the surrounding communities! That’s healthier for families and businesses who live anywhere near coffee bean farms.
“Organic” is an official term that is highly regulated. Coffee beans meet strict standards to meet the qualifications for being organic. The US Department of Agriculture sets these standards.
The standards begin 3 full years before the coffee is even grown and continue through the packaging process. The USDA may inspect farms and plants at any time to ensure that farmers and producers are complying with standards.
Do you sometimes choose decaffeinated coffee? It’s a great choice if you like drinking coffee in the afternoon or evening, or if caffeine is a trigger for acid reflux or heartburn for you. The trouble with non-organic decaffeinated coffee is the decaffeination process. It may involve the use of potentially harmful chemicals to remove the caffeine from the coffee beans.
In contrast, organic coffee growers and processors cannot use those chemicals to remove caffeine from the beans. Instead, the most common process is the Swiss water process. It uses water and a filter to get the caffeine out of the beans. The Decaf and Half Caff versions of Alex’s Low-Acid Organic Coffee go through the Swiss water process for decaffeination.
There’s a lot to consider when you’re choosing which brand of coffee to buy. Taste and freshness are important factors, but that’s not all. Avoiding a non-organic coffee and choosing an organic coffee, such as Alex’s Low-Acid Organic Coffee, gives you confidence that you’re not exposing yourself, other people, or the environment to certain harmful synthetic chemicals.