Sip to a sustainable future
Tony’s Coffee, based in Bellingham, Washington, and PCC Community Markets have been supporting local, sustainable agriculture for decades. Today, the two companies have teamed up to produce a new coffee blend sold exclusively at PCC stores to benefit sustainable farming on both a local and global scale. The blend is called Terra Nova, and for each bag sold, 50 cents will go to PCC Farmland Trust and another 50 cents to World Coffee Research, an organization that helps small-scale coffee farmers adapt to climate change.
Tony’s Director of Sales & Marketing, David Yake, and PCC’s VP of Merchandising, Scott Owen, discuss the notes of various coffees at the Tony’s headquarters in Bellingham, Washington.
Supporting farmland through exclusive products isn’t anything new for PCC. Since founding our organization in 1999, PCC has developed creative partnerships, such as the one we have with Powers Winery, to raise funds and awareness about the importance of farmland conservation. This particular project came about when David Yake, Tony’s Director of Sales and Marketing was selecting beans for another PCC blend with the cooperative’s Grocery Merchandiser Scott Owen. “We were talking about how great it would be to develop a coffee that benefits regenerative and sustainable agriculture,” Yake said. “PCC Farmland Trust was an obvious choice to support farming here at home, and Tony’s is a founding member of World Coffee Research and has followed its research projects for years,” said Owen. “It felt like the perfect match.”
David Yake leads the group in a “coffee cupping,” the formal practice of experiencing the tastes and aromas of coffee to develop a unique blend.
I was lucky enough to attend the initial coffee cupping, a formal practice to experience the tastes and aromas of coffee in order to develop a unique blend. We sampled coffees from Columbia and Peru to Uganda and Ethiopia. In the end, we chose a blend that featured both Latin American and African beans, with a light-medium roast to offer both a rich texture and a bright flavor. The blend makes for a well-balanced, everyday cup that you can feel great about — because each bag directly supports local and global sustainable farming.
Pick up a bag of certified organic, fair trade Terra Nova at your local PCC store today.
Head over to our Instagram to learn how you can win two free bags of the special blend, plus a $100 giftcard to PCC Community Markets!