Did you know that, after water, coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world?
For many people, coffee is more than just a beverage. For some, it is an art, culture and even a passion.
It’s said there are different categories of coffee drinkers. Which one are you?
- The “instant hit” drinker – Someone who just wants that “hit” of caffeine first thing in the morning. It doesn’t matter what kind of coffee – even instant will do.
- The weekend coffee drinker – While they can do without a cup of “joe” during the weekdays, these individuals enjoy sipping on a cup of good java while relaxing on the weekend, reading or chatting with a friend.
- The fancy creative drinker – To these coffee drinkers, coffee isn’t coffee unless it is accompanied by lots of foam, milk, syrups or chocolate. These people can be a barista’s worst nightmare.
- The gourmet coffee drinker – These individuals really know coffee and care about the type of coffee they drink. They can spot subtle differences in taste and aroma, and can usually tell you who serves the best coffee in town.
What’s true is more and more people are enjoying their coffee like never before – however and whenever they choose to drink it.
And there’s another trend developing… People want coffee that is not only exceptional in quality and taste, but also clean and healthy. Where the coffee beans come from – and how they are grown and processed – matter more now than ever.
Biodynamic® - The Ultimate in Quality Gourmet Coffee
What could possibly be better than organic coffee?
Demeter Certified Biodynamic® coffee grown on regenerative organic farms is the cleanest, healthiest and tastiest coffee you’ll ever experience.
Coffee is only as good as the soil in which it is grown, so the very best coffee comes from healthy soil – the type of soil produced by regenerative farming.
Our specialty-grade Solspring® Biodynamic® Organic Brazilian Coffee are:
- Clean, flavorful and health-promoting, thanks to nutrient-dense plants and soil.
- Produced and cultivated on regenerative coffee plantations following rigorous Biodynamic® standards.
- Grown in healthy soils teeming with beneficial microbes that naturally reduce the risk of pests and diseases, therefore eliminating the need for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical/synthetic fertilizers.
- Exclusively sourced from Fazenda Camocim, Brazil, located less than a mile from the foot of the mystical, monolithic mountain known as Pedra Azul, or “Blue Rock.”
So, what exactly is biodynamic?
The original regenerative agriculture and the world’s oldest ecological certification, Demeter Certified Biodynamic® is farming in the service of life.
It combines 100% climate-beneficial farming practices that focus on rebuilding and restoring our degraded soils by drawing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it into the ground, where it belongs, for improved water cycles, healthier people and animals, and better, richer harvests.
Comparing Biodynamic® to Organic Coffee
Let’s take a closer look at how Demeter Certified Biodynamic® compares to the National Organic Program’s (NOP’s) Certified Organic standards:
| Allows imported organic fertilizers |
Reduces imported materials by utilizing nutrient-rich humus created within the farming system |
| Allows imported organic pesticides |
Creates a biologically diverse habitat that encourages balanced predator-prey relationships |
| Does not require the use of livestock |
Integrates livestock to improve soils |
| Does not address the rotation of crops |
Promotes crop rotation and intensive use of cover crops (green manure) to add nutrients to the soil |
| Organic feed for livestock can come from anywhere in the world |
50% of livestock feed must be grown on the farm |
| Does not require biodiversity |
10% of total farm acreage must be set aside for biodiversity |
| Focuses on crops and allows for only one section of a farm to be certified |
Focuses on farms as a whole and requires that the entire farm be certified |
| Product certification focuses mainly on ingredients used |
Product certification uses 12 Biodynamic® processing standards so the agricultural ingredients used define the product |
What’s in the Coffee You’re Drinking?
As delicious as they are, coffee beans have become some of the most pesticide-sprayed crops in the world. Many contain mold and/or mycotoxins – harmful compounds produced by certain molds when the temperature and moisture levels are unfavorable.
Mycotoxins can develop on green coffee beans before they are harvested. And when chemical fungicides are used on non-organic coffee, certain varieties of mycotoxins can grow even faster.
Then, there’s cross-contamination… Mycotoxin-free coffee beans can become contaminated by batches of tainted beans or crops during processing when proper safeguards aren’t followed.
Many types of mycotoxins exist, but the two most concerning to coffee drinkers are ochratoxin A and aflatoxin B1.
Both (especially aflatoxin) are considered carcinogens and are linked to other serious health risks, including:
- Neurotoxicity, or damage to your brain and nervous system.
- Damage to your cells’ DNA and mitochondrial function impairment.
- Suppressed immune function, making it more difficult for your body to defend itself against threats and to heal from illness.
- Toxicity to your kidneys, leading to severe kidney damage and difficulty urinating.
How prevalent are these mycotoxins in coffee? One study found ochratoxin A in 56% of 128 different coffee samples. While the roasting of coffee beans can help reduce levels of aflatoxins by 42 to 55%, they can still form during processing and storage.
You can’t taste, see or smell mycotoxins, so it can be difficult to tell if they may be in your coffee. If you experience unexpected tiredness, or an upset stomach, dizziness, sinus congestion, brain fog or forgetfulness after drinking a cup of coffee, it may be contaminated with mycotoxins.
Even if your coffee is organic or biodynamic, it can still contain mycotoxins, like ochratoxin A and aflatoxin B1.
The only way to truly avoid mycotoxins is to choose coffee that you know was never contaminated in the early stages and has been tested to be free of concerning levels of contaminants.
Why No Coffee Is Really Mycotoxin-Free
To help reduce your exposure to these chemical contaminants, it’s smart to look for organic coffee, but even organic can’t fully protect you.
While organically grown coffee beans may not contain risky pesticide residues, they can still contain concerning levels of mold and mycotoxins.
A long list of coffee brands claim to be the best when it comes to mold and mycotoxins, but are they really?
One should question companies that claim to be mold and mycotoxin free.
There are hundreds of known mycotoxins, so which ones are they testing for? How often are they testing and how much of a lot are they sampling? If they get in thousands of pounds of beans, are they only taking one sample to the lab or are they sending multiple samples? What are they using for their standard for mycotoxin free, as FDA has only set an action limit for certain commodities? These are all important questions to ask yourself.
So, what should you look for when buying coffee?
- Look for Biodynamic® – It’s your best assurance of quality, as these elevated regenerative standards are even higher than those of organic.
- Does a third-party, independent lab test every batch of coffee for mycotoxins, heavy metals and biological contaminants, and do they share the results?
- Does the brand publish a specific plan for assuring their coffee is safe from harmful mold and mycotoxins during production, storage and shipping?
For our Biodynamic® Organic Brazilian Coffee and Espresso, we take the extra steps to make sure you receive high-quality coffee that is safe from mold, mycotoxins, heavy metals and biological contaminants.
4 Steps to Mold- and Mycotoxin-Safe Coffee
Solspring® Coffees offer you peace of mind, as they contain no concerning levels of mold and mycotoxins, including aflatoxins and ochratoxins, as well as biological contaminants and heavy metals.
Our partners use two main tools to safeguard the coffee against mold and mycotoxins – strictly controlling water content and water availability, and creating conditions to restrict growth of mold and toxins that don’t affect the quality of the beans.
Here’s how our coffee bean providers accomplish this demanding feat:
- Proper drying
Before the coffee beans even leave the farm or mill, they must be thoroughly dried. If the beans contain too much moisture, airtight bags will only compound the problem. Our supplier will only ship green coffee that has less than 12% humidity, as mold can only grow in coffee when the humidity level is above 14% humidity.
- Proper storage
Storage is a critical part of coffee quality, as coffee absorbs water very easily, affecting moisture levels and encouraging the growth of mold.
Our supplier uses hermetic/airtight GrainPro bags in addition to outer burlap or jute coffee bags to control both humidity and temperature. It’s a costly step but necessary for high-quality, mold- and contaminant-free coffee.
- Proper certification
Because our coffee is certified by Demeter (for biodynamic) and Ecocert (for organic), the entire supply chain, storage and processing are inspected on a yearly basis.
Approved storage methods and locations to avoid any risk of mold and contamination must be used, and each storage location (warehouses and roasteries) as well as processes for handling, roasting and tracking the coffee are reviewed annually.
- Proper testing
A sample of every lot of coffee roasted for us is sent to a third-party laboratory for microbiological testing. We receive the results, so we know our coffee is of the highest quality and meets our demanding standards.
Every batch is tested for the presence of mold, ochratoxins, aflatoxins, heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead, and biological contaminants, like E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella.
How our Biodynamic Partner is Changing the World, One Coffee Bean at a Time
In our quest for the highest quality standard, we work exclusively with an experienced Demeter Certified Biodynamic® coffee partner to bring you rich, biodynamic coffees and espresso.
A true pioneer in biodynamic coffee cultivation and production, our Biodynamic® Brazilian Coffee partner gently harvests the best coffee cherries by hand to help promote low impacts on the surrounding plants, soil and overall environment.
Their family-run coffee plantations are planted within the forest, where they live – a practice called agroforestry agriculture.
This practice integrates the coffee plants into the biodiverse landscape – including rich, nutrient dense soil and 100% natural pest control from neighboring herbs and trees.
Going beyond the organic standard, our biodynamic partner…
- Utilizes exclusive Certified Biodynamic® plantations and roasting facilities. Growing and harvesting the coffee on biodynamic coffee plantations isn’t enough. Our partner uses certified roasting facilities to ensure the quality of your coffee from plantation to table.
- Taps into the soil’s natural fertility by supporting its microbiology. The resulting beneficial organisms provide the coffee plants with abundant nutrients and the finished beans with an outstanding aroma and taste.
- Nurtures local relationships with producers through origin visits and in solidarity with women entrepreneurs, family-owned farms and cooperatives. Plus, they work in cooperation with Waldorf Education (AWSNA) to support Waldorf Schools on fundraising projects and events.
- Employs transparency – from traceability to contaminant testing. Every box of coffee is traceable to the people who produced it, and every batch is tested in an exclusive microbiological lab for contaminants, such as mold and mycotoxins (including ochratoxins and aflatoxins), heavy metals and other contaminants.
- Embraces the future vision of biodynamic by adding more to the land than they take. Regenerative farming helps eliminate soil erosion and the run-off that pollutes local waterways. By allowing the soil to better absorb water, it also helps replenish underground aquifers.
We’re excited to be on the forefront of biodynamic innovation with this coffee partner who can continue to tie in the benefits of regenerative and sustainable agriculture in future products for us, and especially for you.
What People Are Saying About Solspring® Coffees
Let’s take a look at what some of our verified buyers have to say about Biodynamic Brazilian Coffee…
“Most Delicious Coffee in the World”
This coffee is excellent. Best coffee I ever had, and the aroma throughout the house is amazing!
Sandra W., Verified Buyer
“Excellent!”
This is an excellent dark roast coffee. No bitterness and great taste. I love the whole biodynamic philosophy.
Keene L., Verified Buyer
“Absolutely Delicious!”
I love good coffee, and this is really good! The Brazilian medium roast is out of this world.
Curtis S., Verified Buyer
“Great Coffee and Convenient Autoship”
The coffee tasted very good. The Autoship program is amazing because you can change the order at any time if you run out and need more coffee.
Kathy B., Verified Buyer
“Excellent Coffee”
Was very fresh…best coffee I've tried so far.
Eleonore C., Verified Buyer
“Best Coffee for Sure”
I'm a coffee snob and have to say that this is one of the best tasting coffees I've ever had. It's so smooth and flavorful.
Susan M., Verified Buyer
“Excellent Coffee”
I love this coffee. Smooth, no bite from burned beans.
Gregory M., Verified Buyer
“The Best”
Best Coffee Ever…so smooth…Biodynamics is where it’s at! Thank you!
Terry P., Verified Buyer