What is sustainability? Why does it matter?
A lot of people and businesses talk about sustainability, and the term seems to get thrown around a lot …. but what does it really mean? and how can businesses actually be sustainable? Most importantly, what is the value for everyone in being sustainable and how do we define and track our progress (or lack thereof)?
Here at Nilaa Coffee, we strive to be very sustainable; we have built it into our core principles and company operations. We believe the most important aspect of our practices, and those of all of our partners, is to prioritize how our actions affect everyone and everything around us. We want to share amazing coffees with you - but we can’t do that if the production, trading and shipping of our coffee doesn’t meet widely accepted standards of sustainability that benefit all parties involved. We look at this in three different ways: economic, social and environmental sustainability.
Economic: What good are everyone’s efforts if our farmer and producer partners are not able to make at least some profit and create a higher standard of living for themselves, their families and their communities. At Nilaa Coffee, we specifically partner with producers who can better their communities as a result of this hard work. We pay a premium for our coffees, and we are transparent about every aspect of the supply chain, including how much everyone makes or does not make along the way.
Many farms and producers (even in specialty coffee) lose money every year, or barely breakeven. Part of our mission is to educate our consumers about the pricing crisis and the long-term economic sustainability of coffee everywhere. Paying more for coffee is by no means the ultimate answer (especially if that coffee’s quality is lacking), but it is a good start. There are other things buyers like Nilaa Coffee and other roasters or importers can do such as forward contract for a certain harvest or a few years. In some cases, the buyer (importer or roaster) can even pay some or all of the cost upfront, giving the farmer or producer much needed capital to farm and harvest each year (most farmers do not get paid until after they have spent lots of money to produce their coffees - and this is a very unsustainable practice with lots of uncertainty for the seller). For example, we have contracted an incredible coffee from Thailand for this year…and we cannot wait until it arrives so we can share it with you.
Social: We should all want to advance as people, communities and societies. So with economic advancement should come social advancement and development. What does that entail? Well, different people might have different answers, but we believe that means better education and health care. We think that should mean higher standards of living too. One of the communities we buy coffee from, Mya Paw Saw - a small village in the Southern Shan state of Myanmar, has been able to share the profits from their coffee production amongst everyone. Over the past few years they have used proceeds from their coffee sales to fund water drinking systems for every home and a hydroelectric power system for the community.
We are proud to say that your support for these coffees helps people live better lives. This is our goal for any coffee we share with you all.
Environmental: Strong environmental practices are hard to maintain, but they must be considered with any enterprise. Who cares how great our products and innovations are or how much we were able to improve our lives if we cannot pass on the same opportunities to our children and their children and so on? At all points along the supply chain, we should make efforts to minimize our impact on the environment. Climate change has already begun to affect classic coffee growing origins in East Africa and Central and South America. At Nilaa Coffee, we focus on coffees from emerging origins in Southeast Asia, not just because they are excellent and unique but also because the coffee market is already starting to trend towards these regions.
We work with producer partners to learn what they do to minimize their impact on the environment and what else they may be able to do in the future. One of our producer partners recycles the water they use to wash their coffee so that they may reuse it for irrigation. They also use natural fertilizers and organic compost on their farms to improve their soils and combat plant pests and diseases.
We also practice environmental sustainability wherever possible. For example, we use compostable, biodegradable cups with straw-less lids for our cold brew coffees and we compost all our spent coffee grinds. As we grow, we will always keep in mind our environmental footprint and how we can minimize our waste.
Is there more that we can do? Sure, there is, and there always will be. We just want you to know what it means to truly be sustainable, and that we are doing everything we can to live up to our word when we talk about it. As we state in our core values, “we are no better than our environments and how we treat them. We believe in full circle sustainability that starts on the coffee farm and ends with us at the roastery and café. We must take care to protect everything around us that gives us life and opportunity.”