Coffee Ramblings
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | October 29, 2009
So I seemed to have recently jumped back on the coffee bandwagon. After about 7 years as a dedicated tea drinker I’m again drinking the mud. Delicious delicious mud, how I missed you!
I had given it up because I just knew, felt in my body and my mind, that it wasn’t any good for me. I feel that again, but am trying to limit the quantity and timing of my intake- we’ll see how the experiment goes, and if I’ll need to institute another complete ban in the near future.
In the meantime, while I’m imbibing away, I’d like to make my mugfull as environmentally friendly as possible- so I’ve been buying only organic, fair-trade, and shade grown beans.
My first batch came from Whole Foods, and was packaged in a “100% Compostable” paper bag. One side of the bag reads, “After removing the tin tie closure at the top of this bag, the remaining materials are 100% PAPER and can be recycled or composted.” Well YAY for this tiny choice! By removing the plastic inner liner from the ubiquitous coffee bag, Whole Foods has taken a big step towards more sustainable packaging. Of course, the greenest option would be to bring this bag back for refill- and I’ll do that, if I continue to drink it.
This morning I stopped by a new (mostly vegan but not fully) coffee shop in my ‘hood, which serves Stumptown (yay!). I asked for soymilk in my brew, and received a response which stunned me. I’m pretty used to almost every cafe stocking soymilk at this point- and most certainly a vegan-friendly one- but this place doesn’t offer it. Instead, they proffer different milk-alternatives which they feel are healthier: oat, almond, hazelnut, and rice. While I can’t exactly imagine (watery) rice milk in my coffee, the other options work just fine, and it’s a nice alternative for those with soy allergies or just trying to limit their intake.
After all of this, I do realize the the greenest option of all would be to not drink the stuff in the first place; after factoring in production, processing, shipping, and packaging of these magic beans- and it’s safe to say that coffee isn’t exactly local to me here in Brooklyn- this is a drink with a bit of a heavy footprint. But, well, we here at Team Tiny Choices never claimed to be perfect (though I do think Karina is closer to it than I am).
[Image by Annia316 via Creative Commons]
Topics: Food | 7 Comments »
7 Comments
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oh gracious, so absolutely not more perfect than you are. all of my delicious yummy tea comes from china. and my true coffee confession: at work, if I decide to have a cup, it comes wrapped in plastic and foil and in the form of these proprietary one-cup coffee makers. there isn’t even a drip machine any more!
oh crap…being we’re letting the secret out…i drink that one-cup foil plastic bs everyday at work!
I also gave up coffee for a long time - several years - because of how terrible I felt with all that extra caffeine, milk, and sugar coursing through my system. I now drink decaf, and try to put in more milk and less sugar because at least the milk has nutritional value. I also buy my coffee from a local cafe where it is roasted and ground, and people will think I’m crazy with this part, but i often use my grounds twice. i have a French press, and after I pour the first or first and second cup from it, I add more hot water to fill.
Heh. I drink tea, which I buy in bulk from my favorite tea shop, and which I have them put straight into my tin. But still, it came from India. Not exactly a very tiny choice, when all’s said and done… ;)
I’ve read that soy milk is actually quite bad for you in that it contains phytoestrogens. One glass is allegedly equivalent to FIVE birth control pills. This freaks me. Have you ever read anything about that?
one thing i do know about soy is that it is used to help menopause symptoms, you yes there are those hormones in it. i try to limit my coffee, never put milk products in it, and quit sugar about 32 years ago.
we strive, but keep practicing, no one can be perfect
Phytoestrogens are not nessarily bad for you. If you have any soya product you will be consuming them. Obviously if you have a cancer which is steroid hormone depandant this would be a not suggested drink, BUT the important difference here is that phytoestrgens LOOK like estrgen but are NOT. They trick your body a bit which is why they are good in managing the effects of menopause.
Here in Sweden the Oatly product is the milk alternative that most people have around. Their vanilla sauce is to die for!!
I think the biggest issue with soy is the GMO and amount of pesticides used to grow the stuff. Soy has such a phenomenally large carbon footprint- similar to corn.
Which is what I would assume to be the reason for not choosing to support that particular option.
after watching “The World According to Monsanto” truly there’s no doubt that along with cutting meat, soy and corn are up there on my “carbon evil” list.