Arbor Day Coffee Blend – An organic, Fair Trade and Shade Grown coffee blend from Mexico.

Before reviewing this Arbor Day coffee blend, let me say a few words about the Arbor Day Foundation itself.

Arbor Day has been around as an organization since 1972 and the foundation has a single focus...trees.

Since they started promoting the value and importance of trees all those years ago they have helped in the planting of over 13 million new trees in the US and elsewhere in the world.

They do a great deal of work with children and organize countless events through schools and communities.

This focus on trees leads to a very logical connection with coffee.

Coffee trees like to be grown in their natural environment, under the partial shade of a tropical canopy. All too often, forests are destroyed so that coffee trees can be grown in rows under direct sunlight. Deforestation leads to the more “efficient” farm production of coffee, but is detrimental to the environment in many ways.

By selling shade grown, organic coffee, Arbor Day is supporting the farmers who choose to grow coffee under a natural forest canopy. This saves the forest, saves the birds which depend on the trees and also leads to slower-growing coffee trees and superior coffee.

Arbor Day Blend – a delicious, rich coffee blend grown in Chiapas, Mexico.

We tried the Arbor Day Blend black first, with no cream or sugar.

The bean has a natural sweetness to it, with some wonderful rich and dark tones.

I asked my partner to try the coffee “blind”. That is to say, I didn’t tell her what the coffee was called or who had sent it.

A funny thing happened...she took one sip and then started talking about trees and the rich aromas of a forest under sunlight.

I asked her whether she had looked at the package or knew what she was drinking, and she didn’t. A little weird...but maybe you really can taste the forest in coffee that has been grown naturally and organically under shade.

We then added a touch of cream and sugar and found the taste held well. This is a fairly mild coffee, as is typical of coffees grown in Mexico, but with a clear and bold flavor.

We liked it very much.

You can learn more about Arbor Day Coffee here... 

NOTE: This product was sent to us free in return for a review. (That said, we always reserve the right NOT to review a free product if we don't like it, or feel you wouldn't like it.)