Organic Coffee vs Regular Coffee: What’s The Difference?

Coffee is so well versed, it can be difficult to keep up with the surplus of options out there. However, knowing about these options is not only helpful to finding your personal preference, but helps find the healthier options for you to drink.

One option you may not be familiar with is the debate on organic coffee vs. regular coffee. What’s the difference between the two? Is one better than the other? If so, why? Today, we are going to answer each of these questions and more to ensure you make your most informed decisions about how to get your fix of caffeine for the day. Let’s jump into it. 

Regular Coffee

Before we jump into organic coffee and explain more about it, let’s talk about the typical coffee that we are all familiar with. What makes it special? How is it grown? Is it good for you? There’s a lot to discuss. Regular coffee is grown in a few different areas depending on the type of coffee that is grown. If you’d like to learn about the types of coffee, check out our article explaining each type in detail. 

Regardless of the type of coffee and area grown, there is a huge demand for coffee in today’s world due to our worldwide addiction. That being said, coffee farmers have turned to chemicals to help. Those chemicals being artificial fertilizer to ensure the coffee is made properly. 

Many people get quite worried when they hear the world’s chemicals and food put together. There are a lot of health concerns that come along with such things. However, after loads of research and hands-on work with coffee beans, the true professionals have ensured that the chemicals are not able to make their way into the coffee grounds that we brew on a regular basis due to the hard shell, roasting, and grinding that the bean goes through before it makes its way to our favorite coffee mug. 

Another dilemma within the coffee farming world is the huge deforestation of the rainforest to keep up with the demand for coffee plants. Due to this, the habitat in the area has migrated farther and farther away. Part of that habitat helps ward away any pests that could damage the coffee, so the cycle turns into a need for more chemicals to fight pests while contaminating our beloved beverage more and more. This is where the issue of pesticides in coffee becomes a dilemma.

Organic Coffee

So, what is organic coffee? Organic Coffee is unique for a few reasons. First and foremost, the key difference between organic coffee and regular coffee is that organic coffee is grown without using any chemicals. While there are lots of misconceptions on the real differences between the effects of this, organic coffee is seen as a healthier option. Like we said earlier, after lots of research, the real difference between organic and regular coffee does not seem to be as large as many people thought. 

However, there are still many negative effects pushing us away from it. This is mainly to the area that the chemicals are being sprayed on. Like anywhere, chemicals are never a positive thing for the environment. The toll these chemicals take on the areas has lasting effects such as sending away the animals and liveliness in the area, destroying the soil for next year’s harvest, and more. 

The chemicals also have a negative impact on the harvesters of the coffee. Almost every harvester exhibits health issues directly correlated to the chemicals they use on the coffee crops regularly. If it’s not good for the environment, it’s not good for us. They also can affect the community in the area by flowing down into their water supply and slowly hurting the entire area. 

Hence the need for organic coffee. This may be slower and more difficult to harvest, but overall, it has a much better impact on the environment which will need it in a few short years when our coffee addiction has caught up with us. 

Conclusion

Overall, is organic coffee healthier? Yes, but not how you might think. Regular coffee will not kill you. It actually will have little to no effect on you, personally. However, choosing an organic option does have a better impact on the environment and the areas that are harvesting coffee, so you should try to choose an organic option if at all possible. Even if we don’t see the impact it has, we will start to reap the benefits or consequences sooner than we think. Do your part! Pay the extra dollar or two and choose organic coffee.