sustainability

To us, it's more than a buzzword for a few environmental initiatives.  It means that we strive to consider the impact of all our decisions on our community, on the planet, and on the financial well-being of our stakeholders.  We believe that businesses have a responsibility to make the world a better place and we're always coming up with new ways to do our part.

Community

• We're committed to the principles of fair trade in all of our dealings.
• We form long-term business partnerships with the farmers who grow our coffee and foster information exchange and dialogue all along the supply chain.
• We engage in projects at origin that help coffee farmers develop sustainable livelihoods through exceptional coffee and healthy communities.
• We collaborate with local businesses on a variety of events and projects to foster a dynamic, delicious, local food scene in our hometown.
• We donate coffee to over 300 events every year, caffeinating local nonprofits.
• We choose to buy and sell products from companies who share our values.
• We engage coffee drinkers wherever we find them with a variety of educational programming from brewing classes to university presentations to informal roastery tours.
• We partner with local artists to create fun, memorable experiences and beautify the world a bit more.
• We strive to foster a fun, collaborative, and supportive work environment.

Planet

• We buy only organic coffee from small-scale coffee farmers; the care they put into tending the ecosystem sustains our planet.
  Our roastery is housed in a green building that features geothermal heating, a rooftop garden, an array of solar panels, and much more.
• We deliver to our local wholesale accounts by bicycle or biodiesel-powered van.
• We give the burlap bags and chaff that are byproducts of coffee roasting to local gardeners to enrich their compost piles and mulch their beds.
• We compost all the coffee grounds, food waste, and left-over to-go containers at our Wonderland Park location.
• We reuse and repurpose objects whenever possible, from the construction of our coffee shop to craft projects with our plastic packaging.
• We're committed recyclers: office supplies are recycled coming and going.
• We encourage bike commuting among our staff and were awarded the American League of Bicyclists' Silver distinction for our commitment to two-wheeled transportation.
• We make it easy for our customers to be green by offering organic, compostable, and otherwise ethically sourced products to round out their beverage programs.

Financial

• We buy only fair trade beans and pay industry-leading prices to small-scale coffee farmers.
• We negotiate contract terms that are responsive to the needs of farmers and recognize the challenges of local market dynamics.
• We make our coffee contracts available online as part of our commitment to transparency and honesty in all our dealings. See for yourself in each of our farmer profiles.
• We are on a mission to prove that it's possible to pay all staff a living wage while running a financially healthy roastery and coffee shop.
• We provide generous health and dental insurance and retirement accounts for all staff.
• A portion of our proceeds after taxes goes to the nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy to support their programs fostering sustainable food, farm, and trade systems.
• We choose products that are well-made and price them to be accessible while reflecting their true costs.