By Lindsay E. Brown / Source: EcoChick

Here at Eco-Chick, we’re huge coffee fans—but (naturally) anti-disposables. I loved the ease and convenience of a Keurig machine that I was gifted a couple years back, but I didn’t use it much, alarmed at the plastic waste I knew I’d be creating.

I just couldn’t live with myself envisioning the piles of K-Cup pods stacking up in landfills due to my coffee-love, not to mention exposing myself to the potential toxins that leach out of the plastic pods when heated. (Evidence suggests that even non-BPA plastics can test positive for estrogenic activity – no thanks!)

So my beautiful Keurig machine has been sitting idle in a cabinet in my small apartment. But kitchen space is coveted in NYC, and I was getting ready to give away the machine about a month ago until I was introduced to Cameron’s Coffee Betterbrew Eco Coffee Pods. My Keurig now takes up premium countertop space, and I’m totally cool with it.

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Cameron’s BetterBrew Eco Coffee Pods are made of renewable plant-based materials. The lids are made from paper and and the rings are made from corn, beets and wood—both materials that will return to the earth within 90 days as they compost easily.

The pods also use a coffee filter instead of a plastic cup, so my morning coffee tastes like it would straight from a traditional drip coffee maker. That means I get real drip brewed coffee flavor with the convenience of a Keurig brewer— without that awful burnt plastic taste that reminds me of an office.

I tried Cameron’s Organic Sumatra Blend, which is earthy and bright (and now my morning go-to), but the company offers a really nice range of flavors so there’s really something for every coffee drinker.

Speaking of the coffee, Cameron’s is seriously committed to an ethical supply chain and maintains strong relationships with the farms and farmers it sources from around the world. They do walk-throughs of the entire coffee process in detail—from picking the cherries, to the wet mill and the pulper and fermentation tanks, to drying the greens, and most importantly, cupping the coffees.

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But Cameron’s also gets to know how the farmers live: They visit their homes, explore their communities, observe their classrooms— and they do this because all of these elements are an integral part of their well-being which leads to the success of the coffee culture on the farms and the people who live and work there.

I drink Cameron’s Coffee not only to help curb K-Cup waste (current production levels create enough waste in one year to circle the earth over 10 times!!) but because they believe in respecting and taking care of the people and families they source from.

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