SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is at the forefront of our mission and values. In an industry where agricultural impacts are high — and where our business is fueled by consumption — we strive to do everything we can and continually strive to do more to minimize the impacts we create.
At the Roastery
Shared Roasting Space
Since the winter of 2024, we have been roasting all of our coffee in a shared roasting space in Carnegie, PA — with around 5 other local coffee roasters. A shared roasting space means that we can work together with others to reduce our collective physical presence. Not only does this mean reducing idle equipment, but also improved storage for roasted and green coffee meaning larger and more infrequent green coffee shipments.
How about that burlap?
Coffee is generally shipped in large burlap sacks with about 150lbs of green coffee in them. What do we do after we’ve roasted all of the coffee? For years we have offered them up to whoever wanted them in our Strip District location, but in 2024 we began donating them to the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse. So if you’re in the Point Breeze area — stop by, grab a bag, and make something fun!
*Cough* Chaff *Cough*
Another byproduct of roasting coffee is called chaff — it’s a papery material that covers coffee beans and comes off during roasting. It’s fluffy and light, smells a lot like hay, and we wouldn’t want to waste it! So, we donate all that chaff goodness to a local farm.
In Our Cafes
Composting is Key
We have waste — as much as we work to minimize it, its presence is undeniable. With that, we know that there are avenues out there to offset this, and composting is the key. We work with Zero Waste Wrangler for all of our compostable goodies (food scraps, coffee grounds, our to-go containers) to ensure our waste doesn’t go to waste!
About your To-Go Order…
Don’t fret, taking your order to go doesn’t mean that you’re opting for single use plastics. Our hot cups and lids, iced cups and lids, straws, pastry bags, and food containers are all compostable.
Beans for Home
That bag with your beans in it is fully compostable!