Buena Vista Roastery
Coffee and the MountainsNew Blog Site
We have upgraded our blogging capability. This means that we had to get a new blog address. All of the posts here are on it already, and future posts will be put there. Thank you: www.bvroasteryblog.com.
Switch to Home Brewing
Alibaba reports that people are spending less at the cafes. We touched on this earlier this year talking about the closure of 600 Starbucks. Add to it the credit crunch and global economic crisis, and it all makes a lot of sense. There is an increase in the sales of coffee brewers and associated gadgets. I’ve seen espresso machines, frothers, ibricks and other equipment showing up in friends’ homes. No worries because they still know where to buy great coffee, just one that’s brewed at home.
Exhibit Darfur
Here’s a link to the Exhibit Darfur opening in Denver. While we did supply Fair Trade coffee for the two months it showed at the Ditto Gallery, the importance of the video and the Exhibit is to raise awareness of the tragedy going on in Darfur. We have made a point as the BV Roastery to support the amazing people working to stop the genocide and slavery. Please take a few moments to watch remarks at the Opening.
Exhibit Darfur
Systems Thinking in Coffee and the Climate Change
I recently read a blurb about a University of Michigan study that focuses on how shade grown coffee will help alleviate stress of weather extremes potentially resulting from the changing climate. The results of the study seem rather common sensical once you understand basics of systems thinking. I am not one to question to judgment of funding such a project, because it plays an important role in academia and, as a result, in influencing policy. I will take the opportunity, however, to spout a bit about systems thinking and coffee. Read the rest of this entry »
Our $7 Mandatory Carbon Offset
I learned more about a mandatory carbon offset that I had to pay to go to a Specialty Coffee Conference. Last May was the first conference I had attended, and was coincidentally the first SCAA Conference to require a carbon offset. I blogged in May about going to the event and need to follow up a little with comments on the carbon offset. I am now part of the SCAA Sustainability Committee, the very folk who encouraged the monetary contribution.
Thanks for our Fair Trade support
I send a thanks out to Green Eco Services for their listing of Bongo Billy’s Coffees in their post about Fair Trade coffee as a green coffee suppliers. We are working hard to provide the most socially and environmentally responsible coffees and to people. We were just certified as a Green Business and have a growing list of projects to undertake locally to support our community, some of which are in our 2008 list. So, thanks for the recognition.
Darwinism and the Green Mountain
Green Mountain Roasters appears to be growing. The roaster out of New England bought up Tully’s out of Seattle. At least, it bought the wholesale arm of things, as well as the brand. The roasting facility is to be leased, and the brand will stay as Tully’s. I have not frequented a Tully’s, but see in the Seattle Times article that they are scattered all over the US and Japan. The article simply points out that there is a sale going on for bookoo dollars and that everyone of its 70 employees will remain employed. From my seat here in the mountains of Colorado, I am baffled over the corporate model and how a company can grow to the size of being worth $40.3 million.
Acids in Coffee Part I
From time to time, people come in to the Roastery to purchase some coffee beans and who are concerned with the acidity in the beans and the effect on their stomachs. They ask for a low acid coffee. Easy enough, until you start thinking about the acids and what the individuals really may be looking for.
SCAA Sustainability Committee – Meeting Numero Uno
Next week I begin in earnest my tenure on the Specialty Coffee Association of America Sustainability Committee with a trip to a quarterly meeting in Atlanta. The meeting is a joint committee meeting, sort of a ‘mini SCAA conference’, as one person called it on a conference call the other day. I am interested to see how ‘sustainable’ the meeting is, especially as compared to the MN SCAA gathering last May. It was during that meeting that I obligatorily had to pay $7 to offset my carbon footprint, when the pomp and circumstance, signage, etc clearly paled the $7. Without really understanding the inner workings of the conference and expressing a little too much hubris, I found this was a curious notion to offset the barrage of signage and technological necessities of the conference. I look forward to learning more and to playing a part on the organizing side of things.
The Sustainability Committee has tasked itself to meet the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDG). This is a wonderful aim. People have already been working on these goals and perhaps there are ways to help effect policy to encourage more progress. This fits in with the Roastery’s work with BBI International and becoming a certified Green Business. We still would like to work on a carbon footprint assessment and subsequent ways to reduce that footprint.
Coffee for a Cause, 10 Mountains, Exhibit Darfur
After a month hiatus, we are back on the blog. Thank you for the patience. We have been pulling together a few things here at the roastery, including hiring a new roaster, Stacy Cowan, to help with our increasing demand. We have also launched our Coffees for a Cause program, and helped coordinate two additional philanthropic activities. The Coffees for a Cause program donates 10% of the purchase price to one of six causes, each associated with their own blend/coffee. The two other activities we are aligned with are first, 10 Mountains – 10 Years, finding a cure to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and second, Exhibit Darfur, bringing awareness to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Please help us support these efforts.
Buena Vista Roastery 