The basics of coffee labeling

As a product grown mostly in the Global South but consumed most heavily in the Global North, coffee today in some ways mirrors the colonial structures that made it a global commodity in the first place. It’s one of the reasons Bartholomew Jones got into the business. His company, Cxffeeblack, foregrounds the product’s African roots (the plant almost certainly originated in Ethiopia) and works exclusively with Black African producers and processors. “Coffee is a $400 billion industry globally,” says Jones. “And currently, according to the president of Uganda, less than one percent of that money goes to continental Africans.” 

In the latest episode of our podcast, FoodPrint spoke with Jones and other coffee professionals about how they and their colleagues are working to make supply chains more transparent, sustainable and equitable. All agreed that finding a specialty coffee company — shorthand for one that sources from individual producers or small-scale importers and exporters, rather than buying commodity beans — is the first place to start. But you can also take a closer look at the bag: The labels and terms on everyday grocery-store coffee can still help you get a sense of where it came from, how it was grown and how it got into your hand.

Below, a breakdown of the terms and certifications you might encounter — and some brands that are working to make coffee better.

Terms to know

Certain basic information will be included on most coffee packaging, and there are common marketing terms you’ll often see, too. Here are a few words and phrases to expect and what they can (and cannot) tell you about the coffee you’re buying.

Single-origin

“Single-origin” is the term of choice for beans that come from — you guessed it — a single origin. While the scope is not regulated (or even universally agreed-upon) in the industry, the term usually refers to coffee sourced from a single growing region. Sometimes, it might even come from a single farm; these products can also be seen labeled as “estate” or “single-estate” coffee. The term often represents a level of traceability and conscious sourcing on the part of the roaster, but because it is not an official certification, it can’t tell you much on its own. Most specialty coffee will indicate which country (or occasionally, countries) the beans were sourced from, but not all will claim to be single-origin. 

Blend

In the broadest terms, “blend” simply means that different beans have been mixed together, whether for economic reasons or, as is often the case, for taste. Blends can comprise the coffee sourced from different countries or a mix of different species entirely. (More on that below.) You may see the nebulous phrase “single-origin blend,” which usually denotes a mix of beans from different farms in the same region.   

Arabica

Most coffee cultivated and consumed in this world comes from one of two species. Of these, Coffea arabica is dominant, making up about 60 percent of global production. Considered to be the superior option flavor-wise, it is often described as “smooth” or complex; almost any specialty coffee you’ll see in a café or store will be arabica beans. 

Robusta

The other common coffee species is robusta (Coffea canephora). These beans are associated, sometimes unfairly, with lower-quality coffee, and can be “intense” or bitter — but are key in many coffee traditions, partly because they contain about twice as much caffeine as arabica. Robusta plants are also a compellingly climate-resilient crop, named for how hardy and prolific they are even in challenging conditions; some are experimenting with grafting or studying different varieties to help the industry adapt. Saveur recently described the rise of robusta as “the 2023 coffee trend nobody saw coming.” 

Roast

Typically, the first time coffee arrives in the U.S. from elsewhere, it will be “green” — meaning the coffee fruit (or “cherry”) has been picked and dried, the skin and pulp removed, and the bean hulled and polished. But all coffee must also be roasted to some extent: It wouldn’t taste like coffee without it. “Some drying happens during the roasting process, but really what happens is this Maillard reaction,” says Dakota Graff of Onyx Coffee Lab, a guest on our coffee episode, “which will take all of these acids and sugars and convert them into something that’s soluble…and into a beautiful beverage.” Different roasting times and temperatures produce a spectrum of color and flavor, which traditionally ranges from “light roast” to “medium” to “dark.” Lighter roasts are often described as more complex or subtle, while darker roasts are “bolder,” sometimes with a smoky or nutty flavor. Companies that import and roast beans — whether for their own brand or to distribute to other businesses — are called “roasters.”

Shade-grown

Coffee is an understory plant: It grows best under a canopy of shade-providing trees. But over the past half-century or so, systems have been devised to create higher yields by growing coffee in full sun on large plantations. Often, land must be cleared to create these full-sun coffee farms, and the plants require more inputs to be productive in these conditions. Alternatively, shade growing in the traditional way protects the topsoil and requires fewer fertilizers and less pest management — crucially, without contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Though you’ll frequently see the term used on packaging, there is no “shade-grown” certification, though some certifications do include stipulations about shade plants (see Smithsonian Bird Friendly, which we touch on later in this piece).

Direct trade

In direct trade arrangements, coffee bypasses the commodity market and goes straight from the producer, where it is harvested and processed, to the roaster, where it is finished and packaged for sale. Dialogue between producer and roaster — and fewer stops on the supply chain — can not only mean more money going into the hands of growers, but also facilitate more sustainable practices and a higher-quality product. But this model can be prohibitively expensive even without considering factors like cultural or language barriers, and is not the only way to operate responsibly. 

Labels to look for

It’s certainly possible to find responsibly produced coffee that has no certifications at all, but certifications handled by third-party organizations can be a somewhat more objective measure of how your coffee was grown and processed. Below, we explain the ones you’ll see most frequently and where they might fall short. For more information, check out FoodPrint’s Food Label Guide. 

Fair trade certifications

A coffee producer’s livelihood can be dependent on what is called the C-price — the commodity price of coffee, or specifically, what one pound of unroasted arabica beans will net on the Intercontinental Exchange. These commodity prices have no relation to the actual cost of producing coffee, and often fall below it; according to the coffee website Sprudge, “the five years from 2015 to 2020 saw the lowest sustained green [unroasted] coffee prices in history.” 

The fair trade movement aims to improve farmer livelihoods through a more equitable system that works with producer cooperatives and establishes minimum prices and guaranteed premiums. The two big fair trade labels you’ll see in the U.S. are Fairtrade and Fair Trade Certified. Both have requirements for worker protections, living wages and health insurance. But the requirements for the latter are looser, part of the reason its certifying body, Fair Trade USA, split from Fairtrade International in 2011. And while these fair trade labels have some environmental stipulations — limiting pesticide use, for example — other, more sustainability-focused certifications are much more stringent. 

There are other doubts about the adequacy of the fair trade certification system. Fair trade prices don’t always keep up with rising costs, and interested buyers are no guarantee. There are many who would agree with Anna Canning, a coffee industry veteran and guest on our podcast episode, who recently told Rewritten: “at this point, [ethical] certifications are working to serve corporations and the exploitative status quo.” Often, specialty roasters find they can do as much, if not more, to support farmers and other workers in coffee growing regions by simply building on-the-ground relationships themselves.