8 Coffee Brands to Avoid

This is a huge brand of coffees and is an iconic American brand. Although Folgers (J.M. Smucker) states on their website that they are concerned about sustainability and ethical working conditions, they reject all the common certifications to ensure this is happening.

The coffee supply chain used is not pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide free. They do not offer an organic variety and all their coffee is pre-ground and not fresh.

Although this brand is cheap and convenient, you are getting a poor quality coffee.

Instead choose:

Cafe Don Pablo organic
It’s USDA certified with stunning reviews.

This is another iconic American brand owned by Kraft. Again this brand rejects sustainability certification, fair trade certifications, and does not offer an organic product. Therefore, their coffee may have chemicals and molds present. All their coffee is pre-ground and freshness is an issue.

Instead choose:

Tiny Footprint organic coffee
Carbon negative, with a bold, intense flavor.

Nescafe is a huge multinational brand of coffee owned by Nestle. We commend Nescafe partnering with for the Rainforest Alliance, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) to be sure they are following internationally recognized sustainability standards but they do not offer organic certified coffees. Therefore, their coffee’s may contain chemicals and mold. They only offer instant coffees, ground coffee, or pods so again, freshness is a concern.

Instead choose:

Mount Hagen organic fair trade instant coffee.
This highland grown coffee is USDA certified.

Dunkin Donuts is a popular coffee shop chain and they serve whole bean and ground coffee at retail locations and online. All of Dunkin’s restaurant made espresso beverages are now Rainforest Alliance certified and about 30% of their dark roast coffee beans. As for the rest of their coffee, it seems like it could be sourced from anywhere. They do not offer organic varieties so their coffee may contain chemicals and molds. The grocery store Dunkin Donuts coffee is produced by J.M. Smucker which is the same as Folgers.

Instead Choose:

Ethical Bean Coffee – Exotic blend
This new coffee is not only USDA organic and Fairtrade, but you can scan the package and learn exactly where your coffee beans came from.

This Italian brand is popular around the world and according to their website is the 6th largest coffee brand in the world. Unfortunately, Lavazza doesn’t have any certifications regarding the ethical and environmentally friendly sourcing of their coffee beans. It also looks like they don’t have any organic varieties.

Instead Choose:

Illy Caffe
Illy was the world’s first company to receive Responsible Supply Chain certification.

This isn’t a particular brand of coffee apart from their parent company Green Mountain (which, by the way, is a pretty good coffee according to the brand qualifiers we used here) but a brewing method. While convenient for the consumer, this method has created a huge amount of waste sent to landfills each year. The plastic pods cannot be recycled easily by most cities and therefore have to be disposed of. Here’s a good video that further explores the issue. The traditional way to make coffee produces very little waste since coffee grounds are compostable and readily biodegradable.

If you do use a Keurig please consider using the reusable pods that you have to fill with your own ground coffee.

Instead choose:

Nespresso Capsules
If you’re going to use capsules, use only Nespresso-branded. They offer a complete recycling chain, and have thousands of collection depots worldwide.

This brand should be called Starbucks’ “dirty little secret”. Although Starbucks prides itself on ensuring ethical and environmentally friendly practices are used in their coffee production and even offers organic varieties, their Seattle’s Best brand doesn’t hold to the same standards. It is basically Starbucks way of competing with cheap brands like Folgers and Maxwell House. They do offer a couple organic varieties.

Instead choose:

Peet’s Coffee
Peet’s is among the most sustainable coffee businesses in the US.

People often turn to store brand coffees because they are more affordable. Before you purchase a store brand make sure it has some sustainability certifications printed on the bag and also look for types that are certified organic.