Bird-friendly coffee is sourced from farms that hold certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. This certification means, among other things, that the coffee from these farms is grown with minimal deforestation.

In addition to preserving old-growth rainforest and critical ecological areas that have been around for centuries, bird-friendly coffee is organic, shade-grown, and has ample opportunity to intermingle with the native species to make for a more interesting, nuanced cup.

Right from the source! Check out the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center for all you could ever want to know.

At Redstart Roasters, we’re coffee nerds just as much as bird nerds. The bird-friendly certification, while doing unquestionable good for migratory bird habitats and sustainable coffee production, is still relatively new. As it stands, it is somewhat difficult for farms outside Central/South America to obtain the certification, due to a variety of ecological and logistical reasons. Rather than limit ourselves to a somewhat sparse selection, we continue to source from other forward-thinking farms to bring you some of the more interesting coffees out there, with additional proceeds going to our conservation partners to balance things out while the certification evolves.

While at this time it is difficult to pin down exact figures since we are trying to scale the operation to a necessary level, our goal is to make ongoing donations to a mixture of local and national conservation and research groups, such as:

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
Cornell Institute of Ornithology
The National Aviary
Humane Animal Rescue
PEARL Parrot Rescue

Once things have grown and stabilized, you can expect full transparency reports with regard to these activities.

Not yet! Our goal at this time is to expand and diversify the coffee landscape in Pittsburgh, and with a cafè we’d just be another cafè. We’re working hard with many partners around the city to create new coffee experiences everywhere you go.