Coffee for Wildlife
Make your cup count: support farmers, protect forests, save wildlife.
Brought to you in partnership with family-owned coffee roasters, Genovese, Coffee for Wildlife is your new feel-good brew. All our coffees are sustainably sourced, and every bag sold supports projects that empower people to live in harmony with forests and wildlife.
Buy a bag online or try it at our zoo cafes, or start your subscription today for recurring coffee delivery directly with Genovese.
Choose your origin
All Coffee for Wildlife products are 100% Arabica beans and roasted in Melbourne by Genovese. They are also certified as carbon neutral.
Our coffee is shade-grown in Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, and Sumatra. By growing coffee plants beneath the shade of established native trees, not only do our partners produce higher quality beans, but they also maintain and can even help to protect forest habitat for wildlife.
Sumatra 250g | $14.95 ea
SWEET SPICE, COCOA NIBS AND A PLEASANT HERBAL FLAVOUR. A ROUND AND JUICY BODY WITH A LINGERING AFTERTASTE.
Sourced in partnership with The Orang Utan Coffee Project and from 350 smallholder farmers in seven villages located in the Gayo Highlands, who are helping to protect the Leuser ecosystem.
Papua New Guinea 250g | $14.95 ea
PEAR, MANDARIN, LEMONGRASS AND ALMOND WITH A HONEY SWEETNESS.
Grown in the the YUS Conservation Area by around 1,000 families who pledge to protect portions of their land as habitat for wildlife, such as the Endangered Matschie’s Tree-Kangaroo. Beans are sourced from the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP).
Ethiopia 250g | $14.95 ea
COMPLEX FLORAL FLAVOURS OF JASMINE, BERGAMOT AND BLUEBERRY. A UNIQUE AND LIGHT BODY WITH MILD ACIDITY.
Grown wild and through minimal intervention beneath tree canopy in the Bench-Sheko Zone, preserving habitat for species such as the Vervet Monkey. Beans are sourced from the Community Conservation of Wild Coffee and Natural Forest Management Project.
Survival Blend 250g | $14.95 ea
bergamot and blueberry with a light body and mild acidity. EASY-DRINKING AND WELL-BALANCED BLEND OF SINGLE ORIGIN ARABICA BEANS.
Supports farmers in Papua New Guinea, Sumatra, and Ethiopia. Protects habitat in these countries that animals like the Matchie's Tree-Kangaroo, Sumatran Orangutan, and Vervet Monkey call home. You can try this blend now at the zoo.
Thank you!
Since the launch of our Coffee for Wildlife in 2022, we've purchased more than 11,000 kilos of shade-grown beans from our international conservation partners, providing a sustainable income to farmers and protecting habitat from deforestation.
Your coffee can still have a real impact
Making the switch to Coffee for Wildlife means you will support projects, people, and environments around the world.
Papua New Guinea
This coffee is grown in the cloud forests of the YUS Conservation Area (Yopno-Uruwa-Som) on Papua New Guinea’s rugged Huon Peninsula, and is sourced through the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program. Around 1,000 families farm the coffee, and all have pledged to protect portions of their land as habitat for wildlife, such as the Endangered Matchie’s Tree Kangaroo.
Sumatra
The Sumatran beans are sourced from the Orang Utan Coffee Project, who work with 350 smallholder farmers in seven villages located in the Gayo Highlands in Aceh.
Each of these villages borders on the internationally significant Leuser Ecosystem, an approximately 1-million-hectare area that is the last place on Earth where rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans all still roam. The Orang Utan Coffee Project aims to protect wildlife by preserving the remaining rainforest habitat of the Leuser Ecosystem.
It does this by securing the livelihoods of this community of smallholder farmers in the Gayo Highlands who operate coffee plantations to strict environmental and organic standards. This helps shore up some of the buffer zone of the forest.
The growers are paid a premium for their commitment – upholding organic standards and cultivating the coffee according to the strict Orang Utan Coffee Project guidelines – to protect tropical rainforest.
The Orang Utan Coffee Project is committed to the advancement of the coffee smallholders by investing in their training and in infrastructure to support their ongoing operations.
A portion (50 Euro cents per kg of green beans) of exports is also directed to support the work of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program.
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian beans grow wild and through minimal intervention beneath tree canopy in Afromontane forest in an area called the Bench-Sheko zone, in the country’s southwest. This is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, where the plants originated and were first domesticated. These forests are of global importance for the genetic diversity of Arabica coffee.
The coffee is sourced via a long-standing initiative – the Community Conservation of Wild Coffee and Natural Forest Management Project – that supports the community-based conversation of wild and minimal-intervention coffee.
The partners on this project are the Ethio Wetlands and Natural Resources Association and the University of Huddersfield.
One of the central aims of the project is to empower local communities to manage forest resources profitably and develop sustainable uses for non-timber forest products like coffee, Ethiopian cardamom, and honey, to increase household income. The main beneficiaries of the coffee growing are 79 local communities with forest management groups.
The project works directly with over 6,000 families who are involved in the forest management groups and at least 30% of the core positions of the forest management groups and co-ops are occupied by women.
Did you know our coffee bags are compostable?
Simply place the finished bags in home compost. If you don’t have a home compost, you can put the bag in your general waste bin (NOT recycling) as it will degrade like organic matter.
Alternatively, we have a special coffee bag compost bin in our retail shops. Once we receive them, they will be processed in Melbourne Zoo’s ‘hot rot’ industrial composting system and turned into high quality compost for our gardens.
Is the packaging sustainable? Will my beans stay fresh? How do I best dispose of the coffee grounds?
