It's the world's most commonly traded commodity after crude oil.
57 percent of american adults drink it everyday.
A cup of joe, a jolt of java, or a frosty frappacino... whatever you want to call it, it's coffee.
And without question our morning fix has an impact on the environment.
Some like it hot. Some like it cold. No matter how you take your coffee, statistics show as americans... You want it.
On average, each coffee drinker has a little over 3 cups a day.
In fact, coffee is the united state's biggest import.
So when it comes to protecting the environment, coffee drinkers have big cups to fill.
Investing in reusable coffee filters or using coffee grounds as plant fertilizers are other good ideas.
But when it comes to buying the actual beans, what do consumers need to know?
You might want to be on the lookout for a special seal.
The fair trade coffee seal is given by a group known as transfair usa.
Fair trade certification means the product meets strict social, economic, and environmental standards.
Starbucks is north america's largest purchaser of fair trade certified coffee.
In 2004 starbucks bought about 5 million pounds of fair trade coffee.
In 2005 the franchise upped that to 11.5 million pounds.
However, fair trade coffee remains only a small percentage of their total sales.
But smaller coffee shops face some difficult decisions--because sometimes green isn't cheap.