Sustainability
We are committed to supporting transparent and ethical practices for coffee-growing communities, right from the crop to the cup. Ultimately, we want to ensure that our farmers work in safe conditions, receive a fair price for their crop, and that their families and communities have the support they need.
We have developed meaningful, long-term relationships with our farmers and coffee cooperatives, and we visit them regularly. This enables us to continue to source the best coffee, as well as address the needs of our stakeholders, encourage best practice, knowledge sharing and advocate transparency.
Smokin’ Bean has three key values. We are, and always will be:
Traceable
We source our coffee beans exclusively through Fairtrade cooperatives or Rainforest Alliance-certified farms. The codes on the labels of our Smokin’ Bean coffee ensure we can track every pack of coffee right back to the individual small holders who grew the crop.
Sustainable
Smokin’ Bean Signature Blend is triple certified. It has three official accreditations that demonstrate that our coffee is working to the best international standards: Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic certified. Our Rocha blend is Fairtrade and Miriam’s Blend is Rainforest Alliance certified.
The Fairtrade Mark is widely recognised around the world as a stamp of ethical practice. It is a guarantee that suppliers have received a price that exceeds the cost of production.
The Rainforest Alliance is an official seal of approval that demonstrates that the coffee farms have been audited and meet the required environmental, social and economic sustainability standards.
Organic means no unnecessary chemicals or pesticides have been used on the crops.
Environmentally Friendly
At Smokin’ Bean our impact on the environment is considered at every step of the coffee journey. We’ve already heard all about the certifications our coffee has, as well as our work with cooperatives and small holders, but we also ensure that the materials we use in production are sustainably sourced and that our waste is reused or recycled.
What do carpets and coffee have in common? Well, more than you might think! After the green coffee is shipped to us in hessian sacks, we make sure each sack is recycled into a bag for life or the lining for carpets!
Any polythene or card packaging is sent away to be recycled and any green coffee that is dropped or unused, gets put into an anaerobic digester. Anaerobic digestion is a process where organic matter is broken down and transformed into biogas, which can be used to generate energy. Similarly, any coffee husks or chaff we encounter during the roasting process is compressed and turned into Biofuel briquettes. Nothing is wasted!
Finally, we only ever use sustainable to go cups. We also encourage our Smokin’ Beanies to use reusable cups to encourage even less wastage, like our Smokin’ Bean branded KeepCups!