What the heck are we talking about?
Coffee! People!
Haha but really.
Sustainability has become a numbing buzzword. It is used in nearly every industry, and
especially in ones that deal with food and waste. When I decided to go with the name Sustain, it
had several meanings to me. One of those things is the idea of diligence. I believe in order to
uphold a community of people who are chasing a central passion, it requires conscious effort on
everyone's part. It requires accountability, continuous learning, and a LOT of humility. Another
inspiring component was how the first three letters make me think of a suspended chord on a
piano (a SUS chord). Taking out just a note creates tension that just longs to be resolved and
makes your ear desire a new note. In the same way, I think my view on coffee is similar. We are
longing to see something new, exciting, and have our knowledge expanded, and sometimes a
sort of tension is needed to achieve that resolve.
^^Quick spill of mine. Let me know where we could put this, if you are okay with it!
● What Sustainability looks like to us
○ Price barriers
○ Education and how we can share knowledge in affordable ways
○ Ways to get equipment in the hands of people who may not have the means to
purchase out-right
● Making cafè spaces less cold and more understandable to everyone
Approachability -In terms of how we talk to people who do not know coffee.
● We cannot be prideful and expect people to be receptive to what we are saying.
● There are so many hands and faces in this industry that are easy to forget. The supply
chain is much larger than roasters and coffee shops. (Zan discusses this in the
socio-economic section)
● A lasting community cannot be feasible without people initiating meaningful dialogue.
What do we mean by this? If someone does not know or understand a topic and has fear
to bring up due to fear of entering a belittling conversation, they may never see another
perspective. Something I always say in classes is that it’s okay to not like the same
coffee, or have a different approach to brewing. What is important is that we can respect
one another enough to listen empathetically and perhaps learn from different outlooks.
Conservation - Recommended Resources/Products:
● Not Wasting Coffee
● Oregon Research
● Shade Grown
● It’s not plastic in the world of coffee that we waste more of but paper - we go through a
lot of paper (recommend more compostable filters (get with Compost Fairy) and green
cold brew filters
● Purchasing Lower Grade Coffee at a Higher Price
Socio-Economic:
● Communities are not being supported locally, nationally and abroad (We have no
problem supporting big brands, so why is it seemingly harder to monetize individuals
who are doing something unique. j.j.)
● There is a very thin margin of success in coffee and even then the amount of
pressurized determination and cost associated doesn’t really equal out. The math isn’t
broken, it’s just the formula doesn’t solve the problem we need to be looking at.
● In the southern cities we have coffee professionals struggling to punch through a ceiling
that peaks at not quite enough and we have new entrants who are having to compete for
a seat just to enjoy unripe fruits of their labor (<<< This is a great example of why I
started to teach classes. Coffee in the south is challenging because it is not always open
to new ideas. j.j.)
● Abroad we are in the middle of what has once again been called a “coffee crisis” but this
time we are pointing the fingers back at ourselves as the guilty ones and just responding
with “well this is awful” - no one seems to have a real solution (except for the industry
professionals on that end of the value chain)
● Finding solutions from the minds of those who unknowingly were feeding into the
problem should be our last resort, but it's our first because we are uncomfortable
leveraging accountability and power towards a group that we know could use it more
efficiently if allowed the opportunity. Sure, guidance and overcoming knowledge curves
is a factor, but relinquishing purchasing power over to the producer has not happened as
it should across the board.
● What does this mean? How is coffee actually purchased? Short answer there are more
people selling coffee than making it. We have to figure out why that might be. It’s
obvious to some, but coffee has to move from Point A to B - even more its organic and is
on a diminishing timeline as its freshness and quality is directly impacted by the world
around it every day of its life.
● Coffee goes through many channels and every cent that is added to it is because
someone needs to be paid. Some of it is justified, others could probably take a cut. But
we do know one thing, it’s either node at the ends and crossovers of the chain that are
not getting a fair share.
● It’s the laborers who are bearing the brunt and we are seeing walkouts from farms,
cafes, shipping yards, trading floors. It is happening in Memphis, it's happening in
Seattle, London, Colombia, Ethiopia - people are really not happy with coffee.
● So why do we do it? Some of us have bit down hard and found nooks where we can sit
in just a tiny bit of success. Others have found a community: in Memphis like Sustain or
Boycott or CxffeeBlack or in competitions or unions, forums, whatever or wherever it
might be there are people who feel more at home together than anywhere else even if it
does mean that some days they tighten their belts and others they have to say goodbye
to people they loved working with. It’s an industry that can’t afford to be nostalgic. We
have to keep pushing forward in order to keep the people we care about afloat and one
day happy.
● So for sustainability a lot of these pressures fall on consumers. It’s your job to be more
green, more friendly with your discretionary spending, more local - that’s a lot for you
and it's too much to ask of anyone who is already acting as a patron. But when it comes
to pressuring or holding larger companies accountable who can afford to also play their
part it is deemed as protest/anarchy. But that’s what needs to happen. Every company
involved in coffee needs to be looked at, if not to pressure but to help move into a more
ethical and long lasting direction.
**Great thoughts so far! I added some stuff at the top that are related, along with other things I
put in italics
