Photo courtesy of the Songbird Foundation Coffee lovers say shade coffee tastes better because of how it grows. A traditional shade coffee farm resembles a forest, with several layers of trees. Most often, sun-grown coffee comes from large industrial plantations. Walking in a sun-coffee field is similar to walking in an apple orchard, where one species of plant dominates the landscape. There is no tree cover at all.
Coffee bushes grow directly under the sun.
Sun-grown coffee is bad news for orioles as well as all migrants and other species that prefer or need forest habitats. It's bad news for the environment, too. Although the sun coffee produces more coffee per acre, it requires lots of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals create serious water and other pollution problems. They expose the workers to serious health risks.