Eco-friendly beans better tasting, owners claim. Brad and Derek Zavislake sell the most ethical cup of coffee in town. Since 1994, they've run the Merchants of Green Coffee, Toronto's leading purveyors of guilt-free java. Their headquarters is located in a red-brick warehouse overlooking the south end of the Don Valley Parkway. There, the brothers plot ways to improve the flavour of North American coffee without exploiting anyone or anything. "Our objective is to change the way people think about coffee," states Brad, sitting at a table in the MGC's 3,500 square foot open-air office. The office is home to nine staff members and a white cockatoo names Noel, who has his own shelter in one corner. The Zavislake brothers operate on the cutting-edge of what's been called "fair trade", a system in which companies pay above-market rates for coffee beans and only deal with small farmer cooperatives. In addition to running their company along these principle, the Zavislakes boast that their product is organic, bio-diverse and even "bird-friendly". It was on a trip to Japan in the early 1990s when Derek was first exposed to the joys of real fresh-roasted coffee. He was so amazed at the flavour that, upon his return to Canada, he began researching his favourite morning brew with his brother. At the time, the Zavislakes were caffeine devotees and self-described nature lovers. The brothers were shocked to discover that coffee production is a leading cause of rainforest destruction. A lot of this has to do with how coffee is grown: coffee trees grow best in shade conditions underneath other foliage. Typically, however, coffee trees are planted in massive spreads, like corn or wheat, and left to grow under bright sunlight. Growing coffee in full sun drives away birds, which in turn increases the insect population and results in the mass use of pesticides. Once coffee is harvested, it's dried in a time-consuming fashion, with pulp residue from the process dumped into local rivers and lakes. Drying coffee also requires firewood, which gobbles up significant numbers of trees each year. Armed with their research, Derek who has a BA in physiology and psychology, and Brad, who holds a BA in international affairs and history, decided to start their own coffee company. With $100,000 in start-up funds from friends and family, the brothers tracked down a handful of Latin American farmers' co-operatives from a list provided by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization, a global association set up in 1997 in Europe to certify fair trade businesses. The Zavislakes also hooked up with the Mesoamerican Development Institute, a non-profit group that creates sustainable technology for small-scale coffee growers. The institute is known for its solar dryers-devices that speed up the coffee drying process and save on trees. The brothers only work with co-ops which use the solar drying process and grow beans in an eco-friendly manner. At present, the Zavislakes deal with seven farmers co-ops in Nicaragua and one each in Guatemala and Costa Rica. The brothers pay these co-ops $2 a pound (roughly 10 times the going rate) for their beans. These beans are then shipped to Canada and sold in specialty coffee shops along with home roasting kits. As innovative as this approach might be, the Zavislakes haven't made much money yet. Last year, they grossed $75,000. "Technically, we're bankrupt," admits Brad. The Zavislakes are, however, expecting major financiers to come through this summer and are preparing a major push of their product-line this fall. A big selling point of the brothers' planned advertising blitz is the fact ethical coffee tastes better than mainstream java. Most store-bought coffee is pre-roasted, slightly stale and has a bitter after-taste, the brothers say. The Merchants, on the other hand, provide customers with raw beans that customers roast themselves. The end result is a fresher cup of coffee that tastes slightly sweet. "If you want the best cup of coffee, you need to be an environmentalist," says Derek. If nothing else, the Zavislakes figure this taste-factor will win over consumers who love coffee but could care less if it was produced without harming any farms, farmers or indigenous species.