Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/232179
OFF THE WIRE continued from page 18 that nerdiness will help cultivate an appreciation in viewers for specialty coffee. "At the end of the day, I'm like any other roaster or barista interested in turning people onto something better than the non-transparent C-grade stuff in the grocery stores," he says, "and into a wider world of meaningful flavors and relationships." —Chris Ryan TEXAS-BASED COMPOST COALITION BRINGS NEW LIFE TO SPENT COFFEE GROUNDS "Composting is for everyone," reads the website for Austin, Texas-based Compost Coalition, a two-year-old grassroots organization that works with area businesses and residents to divert organic materials from landfills. Thanks to the Coalition's Ground to Ground program, more than eight tons of coffee grounds are diverted from the region's landfills each month. Instead of contributing to greenhouse gases by releasing methane into the atmosphere, grounds collected from local businesses get a second life in the soil of urban gardens, where they contribute vital micronutrients and a slow release of nitrogen to hungry plant life. The coalition's colorful home page outlines a variety of refuse eligible for the compost heap: yard waste, kitchen scraps, a carpenter's wood shavings, a brewer's spent grains and, yes, a café's nitrogen-rich espresso grounds. Under the Ground to Ground tab, the site reads: "Take all you can carry!" and, below, an Upcoming Events box promotes a local Funky Chicken Coop Tour. The overall message? Reuse is fun—a positive outlook that is changing the way Austin looks at trash. Heather-Nicole Hoffman, a founding member of Compost Coalition, saw a need for a better composting program in Austin when she noticed that local grocery stores had contracted compost removal but smaller businesses were rarely able to afford the same. "It made me think, what about all these little places that cant afford composting services? They're on such tight profit lines that they really can't afford one more thing," says Hoffman, who has a degree in environmental science. From that realization a volunteer network was created, and Compost Coalition's advocacy efforts grew. Ground to Ground came about a year later, but through door-to-door campaigns, marketing and outreach at local gardening events, the word quickly spread. Soon the initiative was receiving requests from local cafés, restaurants and even corporate breakrooms with coffee grounds to spare. As more businesses signed up to have their coffee grounds picked up by Ground to Ground volunteers or "coffee captains," a collaboration with the Texas A&M; AgriLife Extension Service boosted awareness of the program across the state. Today more than 20 local businesses are composting through the program, a number that is steadily growing. "It's just kicking into high gear," says Daphne Richards, a horticultural agent for AgriLife Extension Service. "We have a great website … and it HEADING WEST: Durham, N.C.-based Counter Culture Coffee announced that the company's first West Coast roastery and training center will open in Emeryville, Calif., next year. The space will offer coffee classes through 20 Fresh Cup Magazine | freshcup.com