UNDERSTANDING CERTIFICATIONS AND LABELS

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

Indigo is a USDA-certified organic roaster, offering a full line of 100% certified organic coffees.  No GMOs, chemical herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers are used, and the growers are organized into farmer cooperatives in an effort to ensure premium prices for their crop. Organic farming, or sustainable agriculture, preserves natural resources and biodiversity by helping to put an end to the long range effects of synthetic chemicals on the environment and its ability to sustain us. Baystate Organic Certifiers conducts our yearly audit and inspection.

organic certifications

FAIR TRADE CERTFICATION

Whats-in-Your-Cup-of-Coffee

Indigo is a certified fair trade roaster committed to offering a full line of fair trade coffees. Fair Trade is an innovative approach to empowering developing world farmers who are typically disadvantaged in conventional trade. Through fair prices, direct trade, access to credit and environmental stewardship, Fair trade helps farming families improve their nutrition and healthcare, keep their kids in school and re-invest in their farms. Fair trade guarantees these farmers a minimum price per pound for their harvest, regardless of the volatile world coffee market. Premiums are paid for quality, and Indigo pays far above the minimum price in our search for outstanding taste profiles.

Furthermore, Fair Trade coffee is grown by farmers with a tradition of excellence going back generations. Fair Trade enables these farmers to continue giving their crops the care that produces quality, even during times of market instability.

Indigo is certified by FairTrade USA, a non-profit certification agency. FairTrade USA monitors adherence to internationally recognized fair trade standards, verifying claims of social responsibility through independent third-party audits to insure transparency. Baystate Organic Certifiers conducts our yearly audit.

SHADE GROWN

 

Most of the organic coffees that Indigo offers are shade-grown, that is, grown under a canopy of sun filtering shade trees. This preserves migratory bird routes, restores habitat diversity in tropical forests that are endangered by development, controls land erosion and provides diversity of crops for the farmers, helping to improve their income and diet.

picking shade grown coffee

SWISS WATER DECAFFEINATION PROCESS

99.9% Caffeine-free, 100% Chemical-free

We have chosen to offer Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffees. This is a completely chemical-free process using only water and carbon filters. The Swiss Water Process has been fine-tuned to deliver all the flavor characteristics of each coffee with virtually no caffeine. Indigo Coffee offers a full selection of Swiss Water Decafs.

In the Swiss Water Process, green (unroasted) beans are soaked in water to remove the caffeine and many of the coffee’s oils and flavor elements. The water is passed through carbon filters to extract the caffeine. This yields “flavor-charged” water — saturated with flavor components but free of caffeine. This first batch of beans is discarded. Next, the coffee beans to be decaffeinated are soaked in this flavor-charged water. The water draws out the caffeine from the beans, but the oils and flavor components can’t pass into the flavor-charged water, which is already saturated with these components. The beans are then removed from the water, polished and dried.

All decaffeination methods, including chemical processes, use water, so a ‘water-process’ decaf does not guarantee a chemical-free decaf. Look for Indigo’s ‘Swiss Water’ decaffeinated coffees to guarantee a 100% chemical-free process.