Java Coffee Roaster - ReJAVA environment initiative

"SAVE THE EARTH, ITS THE ONLY PLANET WITH COFFEE"

When JAVA started in 2001 there was no mention of climate change, no where! Now it is in our consciousness everyday. Climate change is bad news for coffee plants that are susceptible to rising temperatures and environmental diseases. 75% of the world’s coffee production comes from Arabica plants which thrive in cooler temperatures at high altitudes. Rising temperatures have meant that much of the usual land available for Arabica coffee has become unsuitable, and the warmer weather has led to a petri dish of pest invasions. So for coffee lovers we have one more reason to be conscientious.

Coffee roasters play a smaller part in the full farm to cup carbon emission map none the less we all must do what we can.

JAVA embarked on its ReJAVA environmental initiative back in 2013. We pledge to be zero waste - we reuse and recycle when ever possible - we call it "ReJAVA".

 

Packaging and ReJAVA initiative

No doubt, the biggest problem for an activity like JAVA is the number of single use bags and boxes we sell into the market. This is a constant source of anxiety for the owner. This is what we do to address the problems we create.

For any deliveries we do ourselves we use reusable industry plastic boxes avoiding waste of single use cardboard.

We offer roasted coffee in 2.5KG and 5KG black plastic drums made if Germany and food standard. The customer must pledge to return these before taking delivery. This has allowed JAVA to avoid thousands of single use bags and boxes.

Cardboard boxes are reused for deliveries to the customer, very few boxes are single use.

The jute/hessian sacks the green bean arrives in, have any number of uses and often given to schools for the younger children to make things from. The jute can also be turned into bags, cushion covers... very versatile.

Regarding 1KG and 250gram bags we have still yet to find a solution. We are still very sceptical about the "compostable"/"biodegradable" packaging we have seen on the market. The activity is unregulated and many unsubstantiated claims are being made by mass manufacturers based on the other side of the planet. We regularly test the claims being made by burying bags in the ground to see if they do deteriorate... they don't. Also we live in a country where there is no recycling of bags. When we can find a foil/paper bag solution which has a small carbon footprint and the very minimum in single use plastic (zips and valves)... this is the way we will go. 

Meanwhile if you come to our roastery or our offline JAVA Pop Up at BioBazar with your own container... we will refill it with a smile on our face and a discount to put a smile on yours.

 

Our attitude to the carbon neutral and offsetting many packaging manufacturers are claiming? Well, we care most about what goes on in our front yard. We do not believe we can ask you to take seriously a claim that our packaging is CO2 neutral because a donation that you cannot measure is made to a fund managed by someone you don't know, we don't know, claiming to re balance all the negative effects the bags we use are having on our local area.

We remain pro recycling, pro reusing, pro foil and paper and anti plastic.

The brands we represent and why?

Plant based drinks

In 2015 we noticed that specialty coffee was growing very popular among the rapidly increasing number of vegans in Warsaw. This got us thinking what could compliment coffee and be eco friendly. We liked the idea of a plant based diet transitioning our eating habits to a more sustainable world. We did not want to sacrifice on taste and we wanted the products to have mass appeal to value driven groups. Since 2017 JAVA has be proud to represent Sproud, Minor Figures and Rude Health on the Polish market.

Teas

JAVA has been the distributor SUKI Tea since 2007. SUKI is committed to responsibly sourced, great tasting loose leaf teas, herbal infusions and great tasting fruit blends from all over the world.

Schlurf organic teas which avoid foil and any kind of microplastics.

JAVA was first to introduce KINTO onto the Polish market in 2014. We like KINTO because rehydration is important but lets avoid the single use containers. KINTO products are well made, robust with great heat and cold retention.

Eden Reforestation Project

Since March 2021 JAVA has been a partner with the Eden Reforestation Project.

Did you know, for every 1KG of coffee you buy on JAVA's Esklep, you plant one tree in Kenya (one of our favourite origins). In the first 12 months we paid for the planting of over 6000 trees. A typical tree can absorbed 21KG of carbon dioxide a year so 6000 trees will absorb over 120,000KG of CO2 in a year.

We are very excited about this partnership with Eden so please help us to plant more trees.

For more info about Eden Projects visit https://www.edenprojects.org/

Roasting Equipment

The largest fixed expenditure in setting up a roastery is the equipment. In 2013 we chose a Loring S35 Kestrel roaster because it recycles heat and is smokeless reducing carbon emissions by up to 80%. No chemicals or particle matter are released during the roasting process. Even the chaff is bagged and given to keen gardeners as it makes excellent compost. 

Paperless Office

All invoicing and correspondence is paperless and we avoid printing whenever we can. We will do more, we are constantly looking to improve, the owner says we must.