Between 50% – 60% of Americans drink coffee. These coffee drinking Americans drink on average between 2 – 3 cups of coffee per day. (all stats provided by Googling articles) Folks….that is a massive amount of coffee being consumed every year in this country.

According to Healthy Organic Woman, “250 pounds of chemical fertilizers are sprayed per acre on non-organic coffee beans”. Coffee Review says that if someone is concerned about unwanted chemicals in our coffee (which I am), we should buy coffee that is “free of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, and other potentially harmful chemicals”, buy coffee from “Yemen, Ethiopia, and Sumatra Mandheling”, and look for the word “sustainable” on the label.

Coffee Questions to Ask and Consider:

• Is it Certified Organic?
• Is the process being monitored by an independent agency?
• Where is it grown?
• Is it grown in the shade?
• What altitude is it grown at?
• Is it from a single origin?
• Is it sustainably grown?
• Is it Fair Trade?

There is a lot of back and forth on the web about whether mycotoxins in coffee is something we should worry about. It seems unlikely this is a major issue, but I think…better safe than sorry….so buy the best quality possible.

Side Note: Please think about not using coffee pods. Do you really want to be drinking coffee made through heated plastic? Do you want to fill-up our earth with used coffee pods? Purchasing coffee beans and grinding them yourself produces a very fresh yummy cup of coffee.

I challenge you to spend to little time on the web researching coffee brands and how their beans are grown and processed. This action can yield for you peace of mind and better long-term health. I hope you choose to spend the time to get to know your coffee.

As you may have noticed there are themes throughout my blog posts….quality matters…even/particularly with your coffee, vote with your dollar, and knowledge is power!

 My morning coffee…

Right now we are drinking coffee made from Certified Organic Fair Trade beans from Peru that we purchase at Sprouts. We grind our beans fresh every day and set a timer on the coffee pot so we have fresh yummy coffee every morning.

I LOVE coffee, however I choose to drink only one 8oz cup per day in the morning.

My Coffee Additions

• 1 Organic Stevia Packet by Sweetleaf
• 1/2 – 1 scoop of Pasture-Raised Grass-Fed Collagen Peptides by Vital Protein
• 1/2 – 1 tsp of Four Sigmatic’s – 10 Mushroom Blend
• Enough Organic Heavy Whipping Cream to create the taste and color I like