Beautiful Beast Coffee Co. was started by Scott Keller. He had the desire to offer delicious small-batch roasted coffee while supporting wildlife conservation.  

As a passionate birder and an avid coffee drinker, he thought there was no better way to help conserve wildlife than spreading the word about the impacts of conventional coffee farming. His goal is to educate coffee drinkers to the benefits of drinking coffee that comes from farms that grow their beans in the shade.

Unfortunately, due to the incredible demand for coffee, it’s common for sensitive habitats, like pristine rainforests, to get cleared to make way for coffee farms. Large coffee corporations will burn and cut down acres upon acres of rainforest to make way for a commercial coffee farm. Along the way, many birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects are killed or displaced.  

Luckily, cutting down the rainforest is not the only way to grow coffee.

The best way to grow and farm coffee is in harmony with nature. Interestingly, coffee trees evolved to grow in the shade of larger trees. In the shade, the coffee bean matures and ripens naturally. And while it takes longer, the bean develops more evenly and becomes more saturated with oils and sugars, which leads to a more flavorful coffee. There are some things you can't rush, and delicious coffee is one of those things!

Beautiful Beast Coffee Company offers delicious coffee that is shade-grown, which is friendly to birds and other wildlife. Most of our coffee has been certified as ”Bird-Friendly” by the Smithsonian Institute.

We also recognize that not every farmer can afford to become certified. So some of the coffee we sell may not include the official Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certification. 

Beautiful Beast Coffee Company is dedicated to supporting farmers who grow coffee in harmony with nature, preserving habitat for many migratory birds, along with mammals, amphibians, insects, etc.

Many of the backyard birds that we see in North America migrate to Central and South America in winter. It’s important that we keep as much habitat available for them as possible here, or it doesn’t matter how we conserve them in North America.