2017 was a defining year for all of us at Peace Coffee. It was a year of focusing, and putting our best foot forward to be a force for good in every facet of our business. From nurturing coffee shoots in nurseries the world over to roasting and delivering fresh, delicious coffee to customers from Minneapolis to Miami, we continue to strive to have a positive impact on the coffee industry as a whole.
in harmony with nature
As he who must not be named rolled back our country’s formal commitment to climate change action, we doubled down on our promise to continue doing everything we can to minimize impact along the coffee supply chain. That starts with purchasing organic coffee from over 900 family farms, where farmers steward their nearly 3,750 acres of land in harmony with nature without producing excess carbon. We employ intermodal transportation (e.g., rail, ship, and truck) stateside to minimize our carbon emissions and ship our coffee from port in a way that saves over 290 tons of carbon (or the average yearly carbon output of 14 American adults).
people and planet over profit
In harmony with our founding practices of loving people and planet over profit, we introduced a brand new flagship coffee, aptly dubbed Tree Hugger Blend, to further solidify our crunchy credentials as a pioneering organic, fair trade coffee company. To highlight this new brew we worked with the inspiring folks at Climate Generation to put on a focused event in April that explored the real possibility of climate change eliminating our favorite things like coffee, chocolate, and wine.
We continue to share our passion for coffee through new initiatives and projects like our importing cooperative’s Climate, Carbon, and Coffee Initiative that works to help farmers solve looming issues related to climate change and coffee production. In 2017, we contributed $23,904.48 to this fund that was given to farmers in Peru, Honduras, and Ethiopia to aid in recovering abandoned coffee plots and furthered education on soil quality and best practices for organic production.
32 million cups of coffee
Overall, in 2017 we purchased 861,165 pounds of organic, fair trade coffee from 25 farmer cooperatives in 11 countries. And our roasting team spent many hours listening to podcasts and inspiring tunes while roasting 707,222 pounds of coffee. That’s enough to brew over 32 million cups or enough coffee for one person to drink one cup every second for exactly one year. Of that crazy number, 255,321 pounds of coffee were delivered to local accounts via bicycle; representing 36% of all coffee produced and over 50% of coffee sold to Twin Cities metro accounts.
We are grateful for another amazing year of support from our partners who celebrated many milestones as well. Such as Common Roots Cafe celebrating 10 years of local food (52% or more year-round), Chowgirls Killer Catering christening a brand new space that allows them to further their mission to bring delicious, thoughtful cuisine to parties large and small, and the opening of Juneberry Café in Taylors Falls, MN, as a place for hikers and climbers in nearby state parks to refuel with nutritious from-scratch food made with love.
our community showed up
In our coffee shops, we said farewell to our location inside the Lakewinds Food Co-op in Richfield, MN, but our coffee lives on and is still sold behind the counter there. As a whole, each shop continued to root itself in the community through thoughtfully brewed coffees and a warm space for folks to connect. Our baristas served 125,343 cups of brewed coffee and pulled 84,215 shots of Wonderland Park Espresso for lattes and our seasonal drinks. Inspired by and in partnership with our friends at sprudge.com, our shops also held two fundraising events that raised over $2,500 for the ACLU of Minnesota and the Arbor Day Foundation through customer purchases. We were amazed at how our community showed up, waited in line, and expressed heartfelt enthusiasm for the chance to contribute!
we showed up for our community
On the roastery side, our outreach team helped us donate $42,908 of coffee and gear to community organizations doing great things around our area; 2,977 pounds of coffee in total! We are honored to be part of impactful efforts like Powderhorn Empty Bowls, Minnesota Pollinator Protection Summit, Open Arms Cook-A-Thon, and the Minnesota Red Ribbon Ride. We spent much of 2017 working with amazing local producers, collaborating on products that include our coffee like Fulton’s War & Peace, Bad Weather Brewing’s Coffee Ominous, Loon Liquors Lac Coeur Coffee Liqueur, Juice So Good’s Coffee So Good, and Du Nord Spirits Café Freida.
As the year came to a close, we tried to pause and reflect on the simply immense privilege we have to source, roast, package, deliver and brew amazing coffee that we pour our heart into every single day. Our team of 54 staff in Minneapolis are the best of the best and we could not be more proud of their work, and our offerings. We have some incredible things in store for 2018 so whip up your best brew and settle in, your caffeinated journey is about to get even better!
