Hiker Coffee: Why we lab test for toxins

MYCOTOXIN-FREE & LOVIN IT Transparency is our jam. It’s how we got into this in the first place—realizing our favorite coffee drinks weren’t as clean as we thought. That had very real consequences for us, not only in our daily lives and health, but in the company we started! We begin with USDA Organic-certified arabica beans from Cooperativa Sol y Cafe in the Jaen and Cajamarca regions of Peru for our medium roast and flavored options. Our dark roast arabica beans, also USDA Organic, come from Cooperativa RAOS in the La Paz region of Honduras. Great start. Then comes our next-level certification and testing. Organic is great. Almost the best. Almost… We step it up from there by having our beans third-party lab tested for heavy metals, pesticides and mycotoxins. Heavy metals and pesticides we know—they’re bad. We've heard horror stories about overspray in countries where the government mandates pest control. Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by some types of mold, and when they creep in our health takes a hit. Once we know our beans are clean and clear like a glassy lake, we’re ready to roast and flavor with only the cleanest ingredients! NO SEED OILS HERE We small-batch roast everything in our in-house roasting facility, making sure we control what goes in our bags and bodies. When it’s time to add flavor to our flavored options, it’s another opportunity for us to remove any BS ingredients. Flavors typically use cheap seed oils such as canola oil as a carrier, and seed oils may contribute to bodily inflammation. Worse, companies might use propylene glycol, a man-made alcohol that you might also find in medicines, toiletries, and cosmetics. Bad Stuff. Our flavors use USDA Organic MCT oil derived from coconuts instead, so you don’t have to sweat a thing. No more bad stuff, only good stuff ahead. And, trust us, we’ll always be on the lookout for bumps in the trail. If we find out we can do better, we will