Advisory

Is this coffee shade grown, and is that the same as bird friendly?

ALS-COFFEE-1.1-BIRD-001

This question is worth asking but is not reducible to a check a page can settle. It is published as guidance, not as a test.

Assertion

shade_habitat_scheme_membership resolves_against_register true

Applicability

applies when
the page makes a shade-grown, bird-friendly or habitat claim
signal
shade or habitat language in product text

Accepted evidence

  • external_register — the farm on the certifier's public certified-farms list, the importer on its certified-importers list, or the roaster and this named product in its buy-online directory
  • product_description — the named scheme and the current mark, distinct from generic shade language

Explicitly insufficient evidence

What does not count, and why. Published because the omission is where a check quietly becomes a claim.

  • "shade grown", "canopy grown", "grown under native shade"
    None is the certification, and this is the highest-volume near-miss in coffee because it describes exactly the practice the certification measures.
  • a different sustainability seal offered as equivalent
    The main alternative scheme has no shade requirement at all, so the substitution swaps a real habitat claim for a weaker and different one.
  • an older version of the mark
    Superseded seals remain in circulation, so the mark's version is part of what a reader has to check.
  • a certified farm named while the roaster holds no seal-use agreement
    The certifier requires a signed agreement plus periodic volume reporting from the roaster, so farm certification alone does not authorise a seal on a retail bag.
  • "supports migratory birds" or donation language
    A contribution is not a habitat property of this coffee.
  • absence from the public list read as absence of certification
    The lists carry no dates or status fields, so a match is good evidence while a non-match is no evidence.

Conflict rules

  • When the roaster appears in the buy-online directory but this product does not — then record the roaster-level match and state that it does not reach this product, because the directory names specific products

Discrimination

Predicted fail rate: 80-97% (predicted, not yet measured)

Very few coffee pages carry this specific scheme, while generic shade language is common, so an assertion demanding the scheme would fail for nearly every page making a habitat claim. Published as advisory so the shade-versus-scheme distinction is on record.

For a shopper

Shade grown describes a farming practice that no one audits; the habitat scheme that does audit it maintains public lists of certified farms, importers and even specific products you can search yourself. The better-known green seal has no shade requirement.

For a merchant

Name the habitat scheme and use its current mark rather than generic shade language, and where you hold a seal-use agreement, make the certified farm or importer identifiable so a reader can find it in the public lists.

Grounding