Counter Culture Coffee

Counter Culture Coffee
IndustryRetail coffee
Founded1995 (1995)
FounderBrett Smith and Fred Houk
HeadquartersDurham, North Carolina
ProductsCoffee beans, Coffee drinks, Educational programs
Websitecounterculturecoffee.com

Counter Culture Coffee is a Durham, North Carolina–based coffee roasting company[1] founded in 1995. It has regional training locations in Asheville, North Carolina; Atlanta; Boston; Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; Durham, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; New York City; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C.[2] Counter Culture training centers provide education in the fundamentals of preparing and serving coffee and serve as classrooms and event spaces. Training centers are not only for vendors of Counter Culture Coffee but are also available to anyone interested in coffee production. Training centers also host competition training, food events with guest chefs, and professional workshops.[3]

Counter Culture Coffee buys primarily from small coffee producers at prices between $1.30 and $25 a pound.[4] As such, they are regarded as a "boutique" coffee roaster, a company which sources from multiple small estates and cooperatives rather than a single large grower.[5]

Company history

Counter Culture Coffee started roasting coffee in Durham in 1995. Founded by Brett Smith and Fred Houk, their focus was creating custom coffee blends for some of Durham and Chapel Hill's southern restaurants.[6] They sold their first coffee to Pop's Restaurant in Durham in 1995.[7] The company expanded its operations to areas along the East Coast. The firm also diversified its line of products and services, offering seasonal coffee selections and educational programs that focus on sustainability and the coffee brewing process.

Sustainability

Counter Culture Coffee directly collaborates with artisans who grow the coffee, and their partnership with farmers is a basis for their sustainable coffee model, which involves working with progressive and environmentally sensitive farms in the trade. In 2008, they launched a third-party Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification, establishing direct trade standards for sustainability, quality, and fairness in the coffee chain.[2] Additional initiatives include their Sustaining Educational and Environmental Development at a Source (SEEDS) program and the company's Sustainability Scorecard. The SEEDS initiative aims to support sustainability and education on the origins of the products. At the same time, the Sustainability Scorecard measures the impact of the company's efforts toward building a more sustainable supply chain.

Education

The firm also provides consumers, employees, and wholesale partners with educational programs on coffee brewing, origin, and history. Professional development courses include Brewing Science, Barista Fundamentals, Coffee Origins, Cupping Fundamentals, and Brewing: Technique & Troubleshooting.
Public educational initiatives include free "Tastings at Ten" every Friday morning, as well as homebrew labs for coffee enthusiasts offered at a fee.[8] Educational courses are offered at thirteen Counter Culture Training Centers across the country.[9][10][11]

Locations

Coffee is roasted in two production facilities in Durham, North Carolina (also the company's headquarters) and Emeryville, California.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Han, Joanna. "An Interview With Counter Culture Coffee's Erin McCarthy". Kinfolk. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Why We Love Counter Culture Coffee". November 14, 2012. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  3. ^ Kim, Jane (October 31, 2013). "Counter Culture Coffee Training Center / Jane Kim Design". ArchDaily. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  4. ^ Kim Fellner (June 19, 2008). Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, Cappuccino. Rutgers University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8135-4506-6.
  5. ^ Deirdre Mayer Dougherty (2008). "A Sense of Taste with a Sense of Place": Coffee Identities Across the United States and El Salvador. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-549-73594-6.
  6. ^ Smith, Brett. "Brett Smith". LinkedIn. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  7. ^ "A Different Kind of Coffee Company". Small Business Insight of the Triangle. September 7, 2011. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  8. ^ Platt, Heather (July 16, 2016). "Counter Culture Will Teach You to Brew a Stellar Cup of Coffee". LA Weekly.
  9. ^ "Coffee Brew Guide | Coffee Brewing Education". Counter Culture Coffee.
  10. ^ a b "Great Southern Coffee Roaster: Counter Culture Coffee". Thirsty South. October 19, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Coffee Classes | Coffee Barista Training Centers". Counter Culture Coffee.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.