5 Ways To Make Your Coffee More Eco-Friendly

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Green your morning coffee with these ideas.

I sometimes find myself getting wasteful with my coffee. I’ll brew a whole pot, only to drink a single cup. I’ll forget my travel mug and have to use a disposable cup. And, I’ll admit, for a few years I had a Keurig.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to green my morning coffee, and I realized that there are a lot of small changes that I can make to make my habit more sustainable and energy-efficient. Here’s how.

Choose the right coffee. There is a lot of variety of coffee certification labels out there: fair trade, rainforest alliance, organic… Read up on the different certifications and decide which is most important to you.

1. Buy in bulk. Coffee is a grocery item that is very widely available in bulk, which is a eco-friendly way of buying since it minimizes packaging. As a bonus, this coffee is often fresher than that sold in cans or sealed bags, as long as you buy from a source that looks like it sells a lot. If you purchase from a small retailer or a coffee shop, they might even be willing to fill your own container so you don’t waste the bag. If you don’t buy in bulk, you can still minimize packaging by purchasing the largest possible bags of coffee. Coffee critics will tell you that coffee should be as fresh as possible, so you should buy it more frequently, but as long as it’s stored in a cool, dark location, it should stay fresh.

2. Pass on the single-serve. Pod and capsule systems like Keurig makers are not very eco-friendly because many of these are not recyclable, or they’re difficult to recycle. Keurig K-cups are not yet recyclable, and Nespresso capsules are recyclable, but they need to be taken to collection points. Certain models of these machines are designed to be powered on for a large portion of the day so that the water will stay warm, ready to be brewed at a moment’s notice, which this wastes energy.

3. Use an energy-saving brewing method. It appears that non-electric brewers, such as French press, Chemex, or Aeropress are the best, since they don’t use electricity (Of course, you still need to use gas or electricity to heat up the water). Even greener is a cold-brew coffee maker, which doesn’t use hot water. These methods are often considered by coffee experts to brew the best-tasting cup. If you can’t part with your electric drip coffee maker, at least get a thermal carafe, which will keep your coffee hot for hours without leaving the maker on.

4. To go coffee? Use a travel mug rather than a disposable cup. Stash an extra one in your car for quick trips to the coffee shop. Try a coffee cozy that is made from yarn so you don't use the disposable sleeve.

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5. Compost used grounds. Don’t trash those spent coffee grounds! They can be composted into the garden, where they impart all sorts of benefits: they add nitrogen to soil and they can act as a barrier to keep slugs and snails out of the garden.

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