Coffee cultivation has quite the ecological impact, specifically on birds as it often entails deforestation for higher yields and destroys habitats. The National Smithsonian has a bird-friendly certification which comes along with a website that helps you learn more and find bird-friendly certified coffees.

I wanted to share my own experience and ask if others had come across this and had recommendations for bird-friendly coffees that taste good.

Living on the east coast I actually really enjoyed:

  • Rockin Cat Coffee. It tasted good, delivery times were quick which gave me confidence as to their small-batch roasting methods, and the coffee I got out of the beans was nice. I remember my favorite one being their Honduras Marcala.

Now that I live on the west coast I’ve been on a search for a roaster closer to me to avoid lengthy delivery times. I’ve really only tried:

  • Thanksgiving Coffee. I can’t give them as much praise as Rockin Cat just cause I’ve not tried all their roasts. I got the Guatemalan SongBird roast and it was ok. It didn’t really have all the wonderful complexity and sweetness of some other single-origin non-bird-friendly roasts I’ve tried.

That’s all, wanted to start a conversation, get some suggestions for US West Coast-located bird friendly roasters with really good beans. If it helps, I typically switch between making espresso and pour over for my daily cup.