Open Pantry goes green
Annelise Sieving
Issue date: 10/8/09 Section: The Spotlight
Going green is the new trend it seems as nearly every company is coming out with some way to contribute to the green revolution. With green smart cars, to green dorms, and green shopping bags. Everywhere people go they can find something "green". One company that students may not imagine going green is a gas station: particularly in their coffee business, but Open Pantry is doing just that with their new Rain Forest Alliance program.
Many people are asking how this program works. Basically there are two parts to the program. First off, coffee beans are very particular to the environment they are grown in. They are best grown at higher elevations and, like grapes, must be grown on a slant and in a moist, warm atmosphere. To do this, the best area found is in the rain forests of South and Central America and throughout the world. The cutting down of these forests however disrupts the entire ecosystem of the forest. We all know that cutting down rain forests is, to put it simply, bad.
In the new Rain Forest Alliance program Open Pantry has united with coffee farmers of South America with a new pact. First of all, there will be absolutely no more cutting down of rain forests. What is cut down is cut down and there will be no more added to that. Also, instead of using all rain forest grown beans they are adding non-rain forest beans. Now, some are asking why not 100% non-rain forest beans? The answer is that they grow at lower altitudes are more bitter. To keep giving great tasting coffee people love, Open Pantry is using 30% non-rain forest bean and 70% of the normal beans used. By making this reduction they will not have to cut down any more forests. It takes hundreds of years to grow a rain forest, so instead of waiting for that, they are continuing their farming where they were already located--not expanding whatsoever.
So what's the catch? There isn't one! The price of their brand new Rain Forest Alliance coffee will be the exact same--no increase. It is designed to taste to the much-loved French Roast coffee with Open Pantry's Willow Creek brand. Unfortunately, French Roast will be disappearing and being replaced by Rain Forest Alliance. You can still get House Blend, Hyper-Caffeinated and Fair Trade Organic coffee at all Open Pantries.
As of Wednesday, October 14, all Open Pantries had new rain forest decorations, including hanging clouds, lightning bolts and motion sensors by the coffee that project thunder and in some stores, fog. The dramatic transition will hopefully get people asking what they have done to help our world become a tad more "green".
Many people are asking how this program works. Basically there are two parts to the program. First off, coffee beans are very particular to the environment they are grown in. They are best grown at higher elevations and, like grapes, must be grown on a slant and in a moist, warm atmosphere. To do this, the best area found is in the rain forests of South and Central America and throughout the world. The cutting down of these forests however disrupts the entire ecosystem of the forest. We all know that cutting down rain forests is, to put it simply, bad.
In the new Rain Forest Alliance program Open Pantry has united with coffee farmers of South America with a new pact. First of all, there will be absolutely no more cutting down of rain forests. What is cut down is cut down and there will be no more added to that. Also, instead of using all rain forest grown beans they are adding non-rain forest beans. Now, some are asking why not 100% non-rain forest beans? The answer is that they grow at lower altitudes are more bitter. To keep giving great tasting coffee people love, Open Pantry is using 30% non-rain forest bean and 70% of the normal beans used. By making this reduction they will not have to cut down any more forests. It takes hundreds of years to grow a rain forest, so instead of waiting for that, they are continuing their farming where they were already located--not expanding whatsoever.
So what's the catch? There isn't one! The price of their brand new Rain Forest Alliance coffee will be the exact same--no increase. It is designed to taste to the much-loved French Roast coffee with Open Pantry's Willow Creek brand. Unfortunately, French Roast will be disappearing and being replaced by Rain Forest Alliance. You can still get House Blend, Hyper-Caffeinated and Fair Trade Organic coffee at all Open Pantries.
As of Wednesday, October 14, all Open Pantries had new rain forest decorations, including hanging clouds, lightning bolts and motion sensors by the coffee that project thunder and in some stores, fog. The dramatic transition will hopefully get people asking what they have done to help our world become a tad more "green".
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posted 11/01/09 @ 8:41 AM CST
Annelise Sieving you wrote a great article. Thank you!
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