First a little context. In Norway, as I assume it is in most of the world, you need to be certified as a company to say that something is organic. It’s a protected label and it costs money to use that word and any associated icons or logos to say that your product is organic. There’s also a requirement that the entire value chain from farm to roaster is certified. If any single company along the way is NOT certified, the coffee is no longer organic.

Since the very beginning, Kaffi has been certified because we wanted to be able to offer organic coffee and work with certain partners who required it. We've always strived to provide the best possible coffee experience, and that means constantly evaluating every aspect of our company, from sourcing to roasting.

Recently, we made a decision that might surprise some people: we've cancelled our organic certification. We want to be transparent about this choice and explain the reasoning behind it. The first aspect is financial. With all costs going up across the board, we needed to save money somewhere and cutting the organic certification, although it was a tough decision to make, seemed a good place to start. 

The second aspect is whether or not organic coffee was worth having in the first place. The answer, as with most things in the coffee world, is nuanced.

Flavor First

After many years of sourcing and roasting both organic and non-organic beans, we haven't found a definitive link between organic certification and higher quality flavour. We've tasted incredible coffees from farms that aren't certified organic, and we've tasted a lot of underwhelming organic coffees.

Ultimately, flavour comes down to a complex interplay of factors: coffee variety, terroir (soil, climate, altitude), the farmer's knowledge about processing. While organic farming practices *can* contribute to a healthy ecosystem that *might* indirectly impact flavour, the certification itself doesn't guarantee a better cup. We want to buy coffee from farmers who prioritize quality and sustainable practices, regardless of certification. The proof is in the cup, and we haven’t seen strong evidence that organic has a positive impact on flavour.

The Burden On Small Companies

Running a small coffee roasting company well can be a very delicate balance. We have to be conscious and meticulous about every batch, and our resources are carefully allocated. Maintaining organic certification, while well-intentioned, proved to be an expensive and time-consuming process.

In Norway the certification costs around $675 per year and there is no discount or differentiation between large and small companies. The extensive documentation and annual audits places a significant burden on our time. While we were happy to comply with the regulations in the beginning when our volumes weren’t that high, as our time and money began to be more limited, we had to question whether the certification was worth it for us, because this cost also ultimately gets passed on to the consumer, without necessarily translating to a better coffee experience. In the end we felt that time and money could be better invested in buying more delicious coffees from farmers we wanted to work with and improving our roasting process.

The Carbon Footprint

Like most coffee companies we care about sustainability. Everybody says that, though, and it’s become somewhat hollow, so let’s break it down and be completely honest. We care about sustainability because we want to continue to exist as a company, and on a more personal level because we want to continue to drink delicious coffee. And by the continued survival of our entire industry, which is why we care about real sustainability instead of greenwashing and symbolic gestures. You hopefully won’t ever catch us talking about how sustainable we are, because we aren’t.

The reality is that coffee, by its very nature, has a significant carbon footprint. Farming, processing and shipping green beans across continents requires considerable energy. Since there’s no way of reducing that base carbon pollution, a lot of companies look at ways to offset this on the other end with things like biodegradable coffee bags (made in China), or organic certification. We believe that it is a possibility that the environmental benefits of organic certification in coffee can be overstated. While organic farming practices can be beneficial for soil health and biodiversity there is lacking evidence that these benefits meaningfully offset the carbon emissions associated with coffee production. Furthermore, a large farm that is organically certified can still damage the environment in other ways, such as deforestation.

We're still looking at how we can reduce carbon emissions overall, but we don’t want to spend time, energy and money on false promises. Until we find permanent and long-term solutions, the best we can do is to educate people on specialty coffee and motivate them to drink less coffee of a higher quality, from producers who use best-practices to grow coffee in the least damaging way. Paying for a piece of paper isn’t good enough.

Risk vs. Reward for the Farmer

Finally, we need to consider the impact on the farmers themselves. Organic farming can be challenging, especially for smallhold farmers who rely heavily on their crops for their livelihoods. With organic farming they face increased risks from pests and diseases without the option of using conventional pesticides and fertilizers. Large estate farms are another story. With a rapidly shifting climate and increased risk of pests, it feels wrong to tell farmers which tools they can and cannot use to protect their crops.

While the label “organic” can give farmers a premium price, the return on investment for them isn't always guaranteed. Just like small coffee roasteries they must pay the costs of certification and undergo yearly audits. This, coupled with the potential for lower yields or even total crop failures, can create a significant financial burden. All because consumers on the other side of the planet want to feel a little bit better about their impact on global pollution.

There is also the moral consideration that organic certification is a huge industry, and regardless of whether or not farmers, roasters and coffee shops earn money, the private third-party companies who carry out the certifications do.

We believe that farmers are the most important link in the value chain of specialty coffee. We want to prioritize paying fair prices that reflect the quality of their beans and support their livelihoods. We want to work with farmers who are committed to sustainable practices, regardless of whether they have the resources to obtain organic certification, and we don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that just because something is certified it somehow makes it “greener”.

Our Conclusion

So, after all that, we decided to cancel our organic certification. we’ll continue buying organic coffee that satisfies our quality standards, we just can’t label it as organic anymore.

We’ll also continue trying to source the best possible coffee, regardless of its certification status, focusing on interesting flavours, farmers we think do a particularly  good job and coffees we think deserve recognition.

We’re open to the fact that we might be wrong about our assessment of certified organic coffee, but until we see serious studies and proper documentation, we can’t take it at face value that just because something has the word “organic” associated with it, it’s tastier, better for the environment or has a lower carbon footprint.

- Adrian & Silje -