Collection: sustainability

Our planet needs all the help it can get. That’s why we want to do our bit.

While all the technology might not be there yet, we’re committed to trying our best to be as sustainable as we can – and to helping our customers make sustainable choices of their own, to ensure that as little as possible ends up in landfill.

In order to be fully transparent, here's a list of items we use and how best to handle them once they've left us.

Our coffee:

All of our coffee beans are sourced sustainably, from trusted suppliers. We endeavour to seek out suppliers who champion smallholders and independent farmers, and we make sure that all of the bigger farms and plantations we work with provide their staff with a decent wage and a good quality of living.

Our zero-packaging options:

Zero packaging is always the best option. If you pop into any of our cafes, you can fill up on Forest Blend and Decaf beans using your own container. Each time you fill up, or buy beans from them in store, you'll get a free coffee for your efforts as our way of saying thanks.

Please note that we can't offer ground coffee through this method. It’s so messy that it often requires a bag – not only can that contaminate the coffee, but it sort-of defeats the point!

Our coffee cups:

Coffee cups have been a hot topic over the last few years, so we thought we'd help clarify what's currently on offer. 

Sadly, there aren't many waste plants that can handle 'recyclable' coffee cups – and even fewer that can handle 'biodegradable/compostable' coffee cups. This is down to the 'lining' of the cup, which is there to keep it somewhat waterproof – it's not easy for processing plants to separate this, or to identify which parts are recyclable or compostable. 

That means it falls on you, dear customer, to make sure your cup ends up in the right area – because if you throw a compostable cup in your garden waste bin, the council will most likely remove it, send it to landfill or incinerate it for good measure, to prevent it contaminating the rest of the batch. 

Thankfully, councils are slowly getting better at managing biodegradable waste – but, for now, we'd say it's best to play it safer with a 'recyclable' cup. 

Our recommended alternative:

Bring your own cup! We work closely with the eco geniuses over at KeepCup, who offer a range or colours, finishes and sizes – available online and in all of our cafes.