Organic Coffee Co. Urges Coffee Drinkers to 'Think Before You Drink' on Earth Day and Year Round

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- This Earth Day, the Organic Coffee Co. (http://www.organiccoffeecompany.com) -- encourages coffee drinkers nationwide to "think before you drink" and consider how their choice of coffee affects the environment. The Organic Coffee Co. -- a division of the San Leandro, Calif.-based Rogers Family Co. (RFC) whose gourmet coffee and tea products are sold under various brands across the U.S. -- notes that your choice of coffee could be one of the most important
decisions you'll make all day.

Every day, an estimated one third of all adult Americans have a cup of coffee and their decision could impact tropical rainforests, migratory songbirds, rare reptiles and mammals, or even the water supply of people thousands of miles away. By drinking shade-grown, organic coffee, coffee lovers can help stop deforestation, and in turn, help in the fight against global warming. Many people are aware of the coffee market crisis' devastating effect on Latin American coffee workers -- some of whom toil on farms where abject poverty has been the norm for generations. But what's not widely known is that HOW your coffee is produced, and WHERE it comes from, also impacts the environment.

To cut costs and boost production, many coffee farmers have switched to full sun farming -- eliminating native shade trees and rainforests, and replacing them with a single variety of coffee tree. This type of coffee farming has lead to a heavily fertilized "monoculture" farm that can't support native wildlife or plants, and decreases water supplies for local communities.

The Rogers Family Company works only with farmers who share their commitment to environmental protection. This means, for example, farmers must maintain native plants and wildlife as a natural shade cover when possible, practice natural methods of fertilization and pest control, and preserve soil and water supplies. These techniques allow farmers to grow coffee under a lush canopy of tropical trees that support hundreds of bird species and wildlife - from the minute tree frog to the magnificent jaguar.

One of the Rogers Family Co.'s farms in Panama -- Finca Santa Barbara -- has become a model for organic farming in the region. All Organic Coffee Company coffees are certified 100% organic, and the "Rainforest Blend" coffee is also certified "shade-grown" by the Rainforest Alliance.

The Rogers Family Company is committed to environmentally and socially responsible coffee farming. It helps create cohesive, progressive communities, and saves wildlife and rainforest -- seven million acres of which disappear each year. And saving the rainforests -- "the lungs of the earth" -- has also become critical in the fight against global warming. Tropical rainforests help absorb carbon dioxide, the primary cause of global warming, and so many believe their survival is essential to the planet's health.

By choosing coffee produced in an environmentally responsible manner on Earth Day and every day, coffee lovers can be assured that they are taking action to help preserve or even restore nature. All Rogers Family Co. products carry the seal -- "Taste the Difference ... Make A Difference" to demonstrate the Rogers Family Company's longstanding commitment to socially and environmentally responsible coffee production and consumption.

ABOUT THE ROGERS FAMILY COMPANY:
The Rogers Family Company was founded in 1979 by Princeton University graduate and ex-Revlon executive Jon B. Rogers and his wife Barbara Rogers. The Rogers gambled and took a second mortgage on a home to purchase and eventually transform a small, bankrupt firm into what today collectively comprises one of the nation's leading wholesalers/roasters of branded gourmet coffee. The company is one of the nation's few remaining family-owned gourmet coffee roasters. The Rogers Family Company today supplies millions of pounds of coffee (including Fair Trade Certified) and tea each year to discriminating customers worldwide under various brands including the Organic Coffee Co., San Francisco Bay Premium Gourmet Coffee, Fairwinds Gourmet Coffee, AUDUBON COFFEE and Cafe Jerusalem.

For more information about the Rogers Family Company, its Community Aid program, any coffee or tea industry issue, to purchase products, or to help the Rogers family continue to "Brew the Right Thing," please visit http://www.rogersfamilyco.com or call 800/829-1300 or 510/638-1300. Original/electronic photographs and broadcast-quality video of Coffee Community Aid projects, the coffee roasting process, coffee farms as well as the people, flora and fauna of Latin America are available. Please contact Jim Zelinski at 925/242-0918 or 415/420-6050 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Contact: Pete Rogers, or Jim Rogers, Jon B. Rogers, or John W. Rogers, all of The Rogers Family Company, +800-829-1300, or +1-510-638-1300; or Jim Zelinski, +1-925-242-0918, or cell, +1-415-420-6050, for the Rogers Family Co.