How Can We Make Our Coffee Habit More Eco-friendly?

While a cup of coffee can make you feel ready for the day, drinking a lot of it can have less positive effects on the environment. However, you can reduce the amount of resources that go into your morning cup of coffee by making a few small changes.

So, rather than giving up on your daily (or hourly) pick-me-up, try the following tips to ensure that your coffee habit is better for the environment. They could even save you some money along the way!

Ditch the Paper

If you’re always buying coffee on the go, the main environmental issue this causes is wasting paper. Using paper cups affects the environment because their production causes deforestation as well as the waste of water and energy. However, a simple switch to a reusable cup immediately reduces this issue. If you buy coffee once a day, you’ll save 365 paper cups a year.

Reusable cups also come in a huge variety of types and designs, so you’ll definitely be able to find something that suits you. If you like carrying a cup branded with your favorite coffeehouse’s logo, check out their range of reusable cups.

As a bonus for going eco, many coffeehouses now offer discounts if you bring your own cup, so you can save a few bucks.

Make Coffee at Home

Possibly the most effective way of making your coffee habit more eco-friendly is to switch to making your coffee at home instead of buying it from a coffeehouse. This is because it gives you much more control over what coffee you drink at home, allowing you to make more ethical decisions about where your coffee is sourced and whether its packaging is eco-friendly.

For example, you can get coffeehouse quality results from a Nespresso machine, but you should be mindful when purchasing coffee pods as most are detrimental to the environment.

However, choosing to purchase coffee pods that are compostable will prevent them from contributing to landfill. For example, Gourmesso sells a huge variety of coffee pods that are absolutely worth trying as they offer compostable, Fairtrade, USDA Organic and Rainforest Alliance Certification products.

Buy in Bulk

If you’ve made the decision to make your coffee at home instead of buying it from a coffeehouse, you’re probably already saving money every day. However, you can save even more money and further reduce your carbon footprint by buying coffee in bulk.

Transportation has a huge impact on the environment, not only due to carbon emissions but also because it uses water and energy. Making frequent orders of coffee means that it will be shipped more often and therefore wastefully transported more often.

However, buying coffee in bulk means that you will reduce the amount of transportation and, therefore, limit your impact on the environment.

Try Vegan

It’s becoming common knowledge that the meat and dairy industries have some of the worst impacts on the environment. In fact, research shows that the most significant thing a person can do to reduce their carbon footprint is to reduce their meat or dairy consumption.

So, swapping out that milk or cream in your coffee might actually be the most impactful change you can make. If you like your coffee black, then this will be easy.

Alternatively, you can try the many vegan milks that are available on the market – check out your local grocery store or health shop. Many coffeehouses now also offer vegan milk options, too.

Even if you only try one of these ideas, you can easily make your coffee habit more eco-friendly and even save some money while you’re at it!