OUR COMMITMENT
“As a family we try to do our part. When we started this business we wanted to continue doing our part.”
We love coffee and tea. It's our daily go to choice. Coffee and tea are habitually carbon aggressive products for Canadians. It grows far away; it's shipped by air or sea then driven by truck or train. Not only carbon intensive it can be socially unsustainable.
As a family who frankly loves coffee and tea. We figured if we are going to make the choice we need to make sure we do something about it. Each coffee we bring in is researched. Why did we start out with our first 3 coffees from south america? They are closer to obtain. There are established fair trade partnerships within the network. This made starting easier. With partnerships like Rainforest alliance. This is like buying wheat directly from the farmer and paying 150% more, rather than buying from the national wheat board who pays the farmer much less. Other markers you might know are FTO, Fair Trade Organic, and UTZ - Program for sustainable farming. Who has merged with RFA.
We wanted to know that the product we are drinking is farmed in a sustainable way. We also want to foster relationships with our prospective farmers. We have done that with an ethiopian farmer named Tad. Though in the last 3 weeks we have not heard from him as there is currently fighting going on south of him. We hope to continue working with him as years go by. We weren’t able to get this year’s crop as they weren’t able to harvest it. He hopes to harvest 2021. If we have the chance we will be shipping some of his coffee our way.
Our other side of the equation is the carbon intensive side. Like another roaster in Ontario we are committed to saving energy. We have switched all of our light bulbs, drive a plug in electric vehicle, Roasting equipment uses natural gas rather than propane. We even try to grow a vast amount of food at home including all winter via sprouting, microgreens, hydroponics Etc
We are now Bullfrog Powered... meaning we now choose 850kWh/mo renewable energy for our operations!
Packaging size - By choosing a slimer package we have reduced the waste by 15%
Our next goal with your help is to offer a biodegradable package. Second quarter 2021
ENERGY
We use a timeshare roaster, this means that the roaster is shared among a few like minded individuals. The roaster has more uptime and is cleaned more often and best of all less roasters will need to be manufactured. Just like cars it takes energy to build them. Everyone in the industry know’s once a roaster gains traction they end up needing bigger and bigger roasters. This is a waste. Having use of roasters from nano,micro and small batch are what every roaster dreams of. We buy into the use to make our roasts happen.
Converted manufacturing fuel source from Propane to Natural Gas.
The new facility has all new lighting equipment to reduce power consumption
Local deliveries are made by plug in EV vehicle. Our power comes from 100% Bullfrog power green energy.
ETHICALLY
Every coffee product we offer are Certified Fair Trade which means better trading conditions to and securing the rights of marginalized producers and workers in developing countries
When we order our beans through OPTCO. We support The Cafe Femenino coffee program which is a one-of-a-kind ethical sourcing model committed to ending the cycle of poverty afflicting women coffee farmers across the world
