Coffee & Herbalism

Coffee (coffea, a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae) is one of the most popular and consumed herbs in the world with some estimates that over *500 billion cups are brewed by over 75 million people annually.

Understandably, many herbalists tend to avoid prescribing and/or consuming coffee due to caffeine side effects, widespread overuse, industry-related challenges, and personal preference.

For me, coffee is both a joyful ritual AND serves as a platform—a medium for connecting, expanding perspective, and sharing with others about plants and the people, processes, and resources involved in their cultivation.

Coffee offers an accessible way to integrate herbalism into daily habits while also having the potential to positively impact the industry, e.g. support farmworker rights and just compensation, improve women producers' access to markets and ownership, promote ecosystem protection, encourage regenerative practices, and much more.

Additionally, the consumption of coffee is increasing—more people, including herbalists!, now drink coffee, even more than bottled water, and this trend is continuing to rise.

For these reasons, I see coffee as an important opportunity—to center plants, producers, and planet in our relationships.

What do you think?

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*Source: LearningHerbs.com. “Coffee Uses and Plant Monograph.” https://www.learningherbs.com/blog/coffee-uses#gsc.tab=0