Coffee is a globally significant commodity, deeply embedded in daily routines. While its cultivation provides livelihoods and satisfies demand, its production presents substantial environmental challenges. These issues span from land transformation to water contamination and waste generation, highlighting coffee’s complex ecological footprint.
Land Use and Habitat Loss
Coffee cultivation, particularly through conventional “sun-grown” methods, is a major contributor to deforestation and habitat destruction in tropical regions. To maximize yields, large tracts of forests are cleared for coffee plantations, leading to the loss of diverse ecosystems and wildlife. This practice is prevalent in key coffee-producing countries like Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam, where demand for increased production drives significant forest loss.
Sun-grown coffee farms, often monocultures, offer little ecological diversity, making them less resilient to pests and diseases. In contrast, traditional “shade-grown” coffee, cultivated under a canopy of diverse trees, mimics the natural forest environment, preserving habitats and supporting a richer array of plant and animal life. The shift towards sun-tolerant varieties, which began in the 1970s, has exacerbated habitat destruction, with an estimated 2.5 million acres of rainforest cleared in Central America alone for such plantations.
Water Resource Impacts
Coffee production poses significant challenges to water resources, both through high consumption and pollution. Cultivation requires substantial water, particularly for irrigation in arid coffee-growing regions. For instance, producing a single 125 ml cup of coffee is estimated to require approximately 140 liters of water when accounting for cultivation, processing, and transportation.
The processing of coffee cherries, especially the “wet method” (washed processing), is highly water-intensive and a major source of water pollution. This method involves removing the coffee fruit before drying, using large volumes of water to pulp and wash cherries. The resulting wastewater, laden with organic matter, pulp, and chemicals, can contaminate local water bodies, depleting oxygen and harming aquatic life. This untreated effluent can lead to eutrophication, creating “dead zones” in rivers and lakes.
Chemical Inputs and Soil Degradation
Conventional coffee farming often relies on intensive synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to boost crop yields, particularly in sun-grown systems where natural pest control and soil health benefits from shade trees are absent. These agrochemicals, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, promote plant growth and compensate for nutrient depletion in monoculture systems. Pesticides and fertilizers can leach into the soil and waterways, contaminating drinking water sources and harming aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, the long-term use of synthetic fertilizers can degrade soil quality, altering its pH and nutrient balance, and contributing to soil erosion, especially in deforested areas.
Waste Byproducts
Coffee processing generates significant solid and liquid waste, posing environmental management challenges. Primary solid byproducts include coffee pulp (the fleshy part of the cherry) and husks (the outer layer of the bean). For example, 1,000 kg of fresh coffee berries can yield about 400 kg of wet waste pulp.
When coffee pulp and husks are left in piles, they decompose anaerobically, releasing potent greenhouse gases like methane. Additionally, these wastes, due to their content of tannins and caffeine, can degrade soil quality if not managed properly. Wastewater sludge from wet processing also presents a challenge, as it contains high concentrations of organic pollutants.