My personal journey with Peace Coffee began out of a simple love for coffee, but it quickly evolved into a deeper understanding of the industry’s complexities and the importance of ethical practices. Working here has opened my eyes to how unfairly coffee farmers can be treated, and that realization has profoundly changed my relationship with coffee.

This awareness drives my commitment to sustainability and fair trade, recognizing that our choices today will have lasting effects on all life on Earth.

Working at Peace Coffee has shown me how important it is to “vote with my dollar” and support organizations creating sustainable and equitable products. Yet, when I go to the store, I see numerous confusing, misleading product labels boasting they are “green” as a marketing tactic. Their labels don’t require their business to commit to sustainable practices.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself the next time you are at the grocery store trying to buy sustainable:

1. Is it “Fair Trade” and “Organic” certified?

When you are in the grocery store aisle, check to see if the product is “certified organic and fair trade.” To be organically certified, coffee farmers must use natural, chemical-free processes to grow and harvest coffee beans while adhering to defined standards and practices. Similarly, fair trade coffee farms must be democratically organized and abide by international guidelines to ensure the premiums earned through this certification are distributed fairly and used to benefit whatever the farmers have collectively voted on.

Peace Coffee was founded by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in 1996 with the primary goal of creating a proof-of-concept that it was possible to import and sell organic, fair-trade coffee in a way that benefited small-scale farmers rather than exploiting them​—and it worked! Almost 30 years later, we’re still paying fair trade and organic premiums to our producer partners and ensuring they earn fair pay for their work. When browsing, watch for 100% organic and fair trade; rigorous standards are required to achieve that label.

2. Is it sustainable locally?

Local climate action is critical. This is especially true for our food! Sometimes, with products like coffee, it’s hard for a product to be 100% local. It’s important to buy local food if you can, and where that isn’t possible, it’s essential to see how an organization prioritizes sustainable practices at the local distribution level. For example, our local community means a lot to us, and we show that love in a few different ways. Our roastery is centrally located in the city, allowing us to deliver 50% of our coffee locally via bike all year— something we’ve been doing since day one! From composting to offering our burlap bags for gardening projects and so much more, we take our responsibility to the environment seriously, starting in our local community. If you are considering buying a product regularly, review their website to see how that business is taking action locally. Are they doing something concrete for the community? Do their values align with yours?

3. Is it B Corporation status?

What is a B Corporation Status? It’s a very high standard to achieve, and if you see this on a product, you know the food you are eating meets rigorous standards for both environmental and social good.

Peace Coffee is a certified B Corporation, meaning standards outlined by B Labs on social and environmental impact are met throughout our supply chain. The bar continues to be raised, so we’re incentivized to improve and continue pushing ourselves. Businesses that wish to achieve certification are scored on several key areas that reflect social and environmental impact. Things like transparency in operations, the wages and job security of the employees, involvement in charity work, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and even the quality of the product or service are all scored based on specific metrics and standards and to be certified your business must meet a minimum score threshold. Our current score is 118.7, 18.2 points more than our first score. The core of this process is transparency, so we welcome you to read a detailed breakdown of our score on the B Labs website.

These three questions will hopefully help you buy products that are truly sustainable and equitable. Coffee is a product that can be hard to fully know if the product you are buying is actually “green.” That’s why I love Peace Coffee. From our organic-only offerings since the beginning and our centrally located roastery making for convenient van and bike deliveries, to our reinvestments in our farming communities, meeting the rigorous standard set by B Lab, and so much more, we really mean it when we say we’re “In It For Good.” At Peace Coffee, we strive to lead by example in sustainable and ethical business practices. Join us on our journey and check out our website to learn more about our commitment to sustainability. Remember that protecting Earth is a team effort—we’re all in this together!

Amir Adan is Peace Coffee’s Social Media Specialist. As a Zoomer raised on the internet, he enjoys making fun content at work and for his personal social media pages. When he’s not at work, you can find him zipping around the Twin Cities on his e-bike, playing with his kitten, or cheering on our local pro-soccer team, Minnesota United FC.

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Three questions to ask yourself buying groceries