Sustainability.
We believe that quality, design, and sustainability work together to produce excellence. Great design and coffees should always be sustainable by nature. It's been our life work to work towards this goal and we are pleased to share our initiatives and carefully cultivated decisions that help juxtapose the world's best coffees with innovative sustainability practices. Enjoy.
Mailers.
From start to finish we are working to utilize sustainable materials in every
area possible. Our mailers are eco-friendly, so you can enjoy opening your
coffee without all of the excessive non-recyclable plastics. Plus, they look
good too. We use these mailers for all 4oz and 10oz boxes, 2lb bags and
most merchandise!
These mailers are certified home compostable, made from a number of
renewable plant-based materials and bio-polymers with an average
breakdown of 180 days or 90 days in commercial composting conditions.
Through using these mailers we are also supporting the Eco-Packaging
Alliance; a great way to both contribute to global reforestation and show off
eco-friendly packaging. Every order we place promotes trees being planted
in areas of need!
Boxes.
For our 4oz and 10oz boxes, we are utilizing boxes that are made from
unbleached, uncoated paperboard. These are low-density, moisture resistant,
high-yield and provide strength and durability using less fiber. They are
food-grade certified and easily recyclable. We designed them to look and
feel superb, and we chose these materials to help thoughtful, innovative
design meet sustainability
Our boxes come from WestRock. WestRock gathers recyclable materials,
processes and repurposes the fiber, and creates new boxes with it. The boxes
are overlaid with laminate, which is a polypropylene composite that consists
of non-toxic chemicals and recycles through conventional paper recycling.
Boxes.
For our 10oz, 2lb, and 5lb bags we are utilizing Biotre 2.0 packaging which
offers both structure and sustainability for our bags. Made from 60%
compostable and all renewable film layers, Biotre takes an active and
interactive role in upholding product integrity. These bags include a one-way
gas valve as well to ensure longer lasting shelf stability and freshness. The
bags are also beautiful and offer the texture and color to fit the entire vision
of our aesthetic.
Most packaging is made from non-renewable plastic and foil; however,
Biotre adds a final layer of eco-friendly initiative into our packaging and
allows our consumers to not worry about the footprint their favorite coffee
leaves behind.
Roasting.
We are thrilled to announce that our Roastery is carbon neutral. Early in 2020,
we finalized installation of Solar Panels on the roof of our HQ which has taken
the entire roastery and production area off the grid to operate fully on solar
powered energy. Roasting and production is a power-house and requires a lot
of energy to operate; by being able to take this off the table we are able to take
yet another step in reducing our carbon footprint.
Additionally, we roast on Diedrich IR-12s which utilize far less energy than the
standard small-batch and production roasters. Through infrared gas burners,
we are given the autonomy to roast with conductive, convective, and radiant
heat, instead of traditional large gas burners, giving an estimated 60%
reduction of natural gas usage.
Producers.
We take active steps at the producer level to buy and support sustainable
coffees. Quantifying the sustainability of our producing partners is difficult as
country to country the practices surrounding coffee production differ.
However, we believe that sustainability and quality go together, and have long
been interested in purchasing coffees that reinforce this concept. There are
several avenues through which we pursue this.
We pay premiums that producers use to build drying beds, to purchase
organic fertilizers, among other small initiatives that work towards
sustainability. For many producers, sustainability is much more than just an
industry buzzword, but is a way to work towards coffee production supporting
their families and communities for years to come.
Another way we do this is through purchasing natural and honey processed
coffees that yield less acidic runoff. This helps protect the integrity of ground
waters, and also requires less water for processing. Our coffee lineup regularly
features coffees that utilize these methods.
Our Relationship coffee model reinforces our desire to work regularly with
producers that are consistently putting out excellent coffees and also that are
actively working towards practices that cultivate long term production on their
farms. Coffee production is truly a long game. Sustainable practices on the
farm level help make this a reality, both for financial and agricultural stability.