About

Café Le Nichoir and Café Avia are the result of collaboration between Le Nichoir Wild Bird Conservation Centre and Totem Roasters. We launched the cafebirdfriendly.org in 2019 to encourage people to drink, Fair Trade, organic, Bird Friendly® certified coffee.

It’s a simple gesture all coffee drinkers can make to protect the winter habitat of birds that travel from our backyards each winter to the faraway farms that produce our coffee.

To help get the word out we have partnered with other organizations. It’s simple: Many voices are stronger than one.

Each participating non-profit organization believes that the coffee you choose can change the world. By putting their logo on Bird Friendly® certified coffee they are helping to get the word out to more people.

In addition, for each bag sold with their logo the organization receives a portion of the selling price to support their own community or conservation programs.

About Bird Friendly Coffee

Three-quarters of the world’s coffee farms destroy forest habitat to grow coffee in the sun and often use harmful pesticides and fertilizers that poison the environment. When forests disappear, migratory songbirds disappear, too. In order to combat population and habitat loss, scientists at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created the Bird Friendly certification.

Instead of clearing rainforest, Bird Friendly coffees grow underneath shade trees that sequester carbon, fight climate change and provide habitat for birds, including migratory species whose impressive journeys can take them from the backyards of the U.S. and Canada all the way to coffee farms in Latin America.

While much of the world’s coffee drives habitat loss, Bird Friendly habitat flies above the rest by ensuring a combination of foliage cover, tree height and biodiversity proven to provide quality habitat for birds and other wildlife. Certification standards cover everything from canopy height to insect biodiversity to protect the wildlife that lives where coffee is grown. Bird Friendly coffees are also certified organic, meaning they are grown without pesticides, which is better for people and for the planet.

Bird Friendly producers can also earn more for their crops. The certification gives growers access to gourmet market price premiums, and the timber and fruit trees on shade coffee farms provide farmers with additional income. Every cup of Bird Friendly coffee purchased rewards these farmers for being good stewards of the environment and encourages them to continue conserving Bird Friendly habitat.

Learn more at Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

About Totem Roasters

We believe in adventure, good friends and a great cup of coffee. We’re Carl and Nancy and together we’re Totem Roasters, based in Vaudreuil-Dorion against the beautiful backdrop of the Lake of Two Mountains. We both love the great outdoors as much as we love coffee and have found a way to combine the two to benefit the environment. We believe each bean has a life of its own, and our goal is to highlight its distinctive flavours so our clients can savour a better cup at home.

We’re committed to sourcing and roasting excellent coffee and sourcing coffees that not only have unique flavour characteristics but also benefit our planet and its living things.

Learn more at totemroasters.com

About Le Nichoir

Situated at the entrance to the Clarke Sydenham Nature Reserve in Hudson, QC, Le Nichoir’s mission is to conserve wild birds as part of our natural heritage.

At Le Nichoir we are passionate about birds! We provide professional and compassionate care of injured and orphaned wild birds and we lead an array of environmental education programs for children and adults.

We began our adventure with certified Bird Friendly coffee in 2015 when we joined forces with Totem Roasters to develop a new coffee product, branded as Café Le Nichoir, to be sold in Le Nichoir’s on-site boutique, La Plume Verte, and a limited number of nearby retailers. Sales of the triple-certified Café Le Nichoir promoted the protection of wild bird habitats in southern coffee plantations while providing a modest amount of additional funding for Le Nichoir’s conservation programs.

Based upon the local success of Café Le Nichoir, the concept was expanded in 2019 and Le Nichoir launched cafebirdfriendly.org. To help spread the word Le Nichoir partnered with other like-minded organizations to promote awareness and sales of certified Bird Friendly coffee.

Sales took off and by the end of 2020 sales had grown to the point that it was time to make some changes. In February 2021 Totem Roasters took on the ownership and operating responsibility for cafebirdfriendly.org and Le Nichoir’s role changed from that of operator to founding partner and committed supporter of the certified Bird Friendly initiative.

Learn more at lenichoir.org

Certified Bird Friendly Coffee