Ok, Millar’s Coffee comes in a paper bag, so this isn’t entirely off-topic. Truthfully though. the reason that I have spent the last half hour checking out their website is that the idea of a wood-fired roaster appealed to me.
If you are in the Vancouver or Portland area, be sure to try some Millars Wood Roasted Coffee. Before being roasted over a hardwood fire, the beans are rested in old bourbon barrels.
I have recently relocated. I am living near the spot where I grew up on the east coast of Canada. Being back here has me thinking about all kinds of land stewardship issues. The family that runs Millars Coffee thinks about this a lot too and they decided long ago to only use naturally felled or over mature trees for their fuel. The coffee is not roasted from trees that were cut down when they were still healthy and growing.
Today I bought raw milk from a vending machine. I am just visiting so I didn’t have my own container. The dairy also has a vending machine for sterile containers. Unfortunately, all but the bottom row of these empty containers are plastic. The price of a new plastic milk bottle from the vending machine is high enough to strongly encourage reuse. I was lucky enough to show up just when the farmer was switching out the stainless steel milk tank that sits inside the vending machine with a fresh one. He generously gave me a free glass bottle. The cost from the vending machine was 1 Euro.
There are a few things that I really like about this business model. Mostly I love the way that it encourages the reuse of containers.
I am not a raw milk advocate in particular. I think consumers should have the right to eat or drink just about anything they want as long as they take the responsibility to be informed about the benefits and risks associated with what they are putting in their bodies. Producers bear some responsibilities too. For a long time the majority of dairy producers have taken a ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude about pasteurization. If a large dairy cooperative did not pasteurize their milk, the safety of the milk would rely on whoever was the weakest link in the supply chain. The milk that I bought comes from one farm that has been operating these machines for several years. It was delicious.
People love convenience. It’s not surprising that the recently invented, mess free single use, single serving coffee pod has been taking over the world. I am not a big fan and I don’t have much personal experience with K-Cups. I was curious to hear from readers about whether they have this new convenience in their workplaces.
Green Mountain Coffee company recently told their investors they project selling 3 billion k-cups next year! The “Green” minded company was also embarrased to admit the “single-use” coffee model is environmentally wasteful
Above is a quote from KBrewLids.com, a company that sells foil lids designed to allow for reuse of the popular K-cups, or Keurig Coffee Pods. They say that the ostensibly single use pod can actually be used ten times.
Reuse is, of course, the second best of the three R’s. Reducing is always better. If you don’t use K-cups, don’t start. There are plenty of plastic free ways to brew coffee. My favorite way is with a French Press.
If your workplace has made the switch to k-cups, you can still avoid the single use sacrilege by using reusable filter that is designed to fit in the Keurig brewer.
