CarbonFree® Certified Coffee

In a continuing effort to make every aspect of our business sustainable, we have partnered with Carbonfund.org to offset 100% of the global warming emissions associated with our coffee. We are the first coffee roaster in the country to complete the rigorous third-party certification process necessary to obtain the CarbonFree® Certified Product label.

To get a product certified CarbonFree®, a company must submit the item for a detailed Life Cycle Analysis, a third-party process that formally scrutinizes the carbon emissions associated with every step in production. The resulting analysis accounts for all carbon dioxide emissions starting with a coffee plant and ending with an empty bag of coffee.

This comprehensive "crop to cup" analysis includes the following steps:

1. Organic cultivation of coffee plant
2. Non-mechanized harvest of coffee cherries
3. Pulping and washing of cherries (to extract beans)
4. Sun drying of coffee beans
5. Transport of beans to dry mill for hulling
6. Burlap bags used to contain finished green coffee
7. Transport to port city in country of origin
8. Ocean transport from origin to US west coast ports
9. Warehousing in US port cities
10. Transport to Grounds for Change roastery
11. All energy used in roasting processes
12. All energy used in operations and business travel
13. Coffee packaging materials, labels and shipping boxes
14. Transport of finished coffee to customer
15. Customer disposal of empty coffee bag
     

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We are committed to providing our customers with the highest quality coffee available. To us, that means Organic Certified, Fair Trade™ Certified and now CarbonFree® Certified - caring for ecosystems, workers and the climate.

Carbonfund.org, the nation's leading non-profit carbon offset provider, is the only organization in North America to provide full CarbonFree® certification. We utilize Carbonfund.org's reforestation program to offset the complete carbon dioxide footprint of all roasted coffee.

In addition to our CarbonFree® product certification, we continue to purchase 100% renewable electricity that is generated by wind, solar and biomass. We firmly believe that using sustainable energy whenever possible and offsetting all non-renewable energy used in business operations is critical to long-term success.