ABA Song Bird Coffee. More than Delicious.

The best coffee is raised the traditional way—slowly, under a canopy of shade from taller trees where birds and wildlife still find a good home there. Shade-grown coffees are also carefully tended, harvested, and processed by people who know and love coffee and who depend on it for their livelihoods. You win, the birds win, and the coffee growers and roasters win.

Read more about shade-grown coffee >>

The American Birding Association is proud to partner with Thanksgiving Coffee Company to bring you Song Bird Coffee. Song Bird is grown on small farms that have been certified Bird-Friendly by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, the gold standard for shade-grown, organic coffees.

With each package sold, a portion of the proceeds benefits the mission, programs and conservation efforts of the American Birding Association.  By drinking shade-grown and bird friendly coffee every morning, you are supporting these farmers, the efforts of the ABA, and the countless birds they are protecting.

Colombian Dark Roast

A rich coffee with flavors of toasted nut and dark chocolate followed by a smooth lasting finish, making this a clear winner for dark roast coffee enthusiasts.

Nicaraguan Medium Roast

Fruity, nutty and chocolaty with hints of dried mango. Sweet without sugar, mellow without cream, it is a great breakfast coffee.

Tropical Blend French Roast

Full-bodied, smoky, and intense, this flavorful French roast coffee is a blend of beans from 3 different certified bird friendly coffee cooperatives in Colombia, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

Guatemalan Light Roast

Lightly roasted to express the unique characteristics of this exceptional coffee: juicy ripe cherry sweetness, cacao nibs, and sugary molasses. The coffee is shade-grown on steep volcanic slopes of the Northwestern Highlands of Guatemala by Maya Quiche coffee farmers.

Decaffeinated Medium Roast

Rich, nutty and complex. This high quality roast smells great upon the cut of the bag, and the grind of the bean. And, what do you know, it makes a great cup of coffee.

ABA Members

 Log in below to get $1 off any 12oz bag, or $3 off any 5lb bag of Song Bird Coffee. And 20% off your first order!

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About Shade Grown Coffee

Historically, coffee plants are shade-loving plants growing under a canopy amongst forest trees.

Growing coffee under shade takes longer to ripen than non-shade or full sun coffee beans, producing deeper and richer flavors. Shade grown coffee farms not only produce the best tasting coffees, they also support a wide biodiversity of natural habitat and ecosystems. These conditions in turn allow for a higher diversity of birds, plants, pollinators, mammals and other species vs. the monoculture of full-sun coffee plantations.

With the wide proliferation of sun coffee plantations, thousands of valuable diverse habitats have been cut down and turned into a monoculture devoid of significant natural lifecycles. Sun grown coffee plants produce beans faster, significantly lessening a flavorful bean for roasting.

Purchasing organic, shade grown Song Bird Coffee certified Bird Friendly® by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center is not only good for the habitats and ecosystems they create, it is also great for people, too! Rich and flavorful tasting coffee produced by certified organic coffee farmers that in turn protect water sources for the communities they live in and makes stronger local economies. SMBC’s Bird Friendly® certification is the only one that is 100 percent guaranteed organic and shade-grown, and translates to the healthiest farms. To learn more about the SMBC’s Bird Friendly certification and shade grown coffee, please visit https://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/coffee/

“If a coffee is certified as Bird Friendly® by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, it is grown under the most stringent environmental standards of any certification system, and it is also required to be certified organic. If you see this seal, it is one of the best assurances that the coffee was grown with biodiversity and sustainability as top priorities.” Julie Craves, author, Coffee & Conservation

About Our Roaster

Thanksgiving Coffee

Thanksgiving Coffee was founded in 1972 by Paul and Joan Katzeff, and in the over forty years since has continually brought a passionate voice on behalf of coffee as a force for social justice in the world. Proud to partner with fair trade coffee cooperatives and family farms on five continents, the family-run company is committed to equitable trade, environmentally responsible practices, and sustainable sourcing. Not just a cup, but a Just cup.

Roaster of the Year 2017
Thanksgiving Coffee
Press Release for October 17th, 2016 from Roast Magazine

The best for the world is now the best in the world.

Thanksgiving Coffee honored as Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine.

Roast magazine’s Roaster of the Year awards recognize companies that roast coffees of superior quality, exemplify a dedication to sustainability, promote employee and community education, and demonstrate a strong commitment to the coffee industry, among other criteria.

Paul and Joan Katzeff at Thanksgiving Coffee Company were honored to have been selected as Macro Roaster of the year, a category for companies roasting more than 100,000 pounds annually.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company, based in Fort Bragg, California, took the top prize for Macro Roaster of the Year, with an output of 550,000 pounds per year. Founded in 1972, Thanksgiving Coffee Company has been a pioneer in promoting quality and freshness in the specialty coffee industry for more than four decades. With its motto of “Not Just a Cup, But a Just Cup,” the company also has been a leader in socially responsible business practices, “cause coffees” and community support.