GREENWASHING – The Seven Sins

Who even knew there were colors ? I promise to be brief.

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off – A claim suggesting that a product is “green” based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other environmental issues.
2. Sin of NO PROOF (and one of my favorites) – An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. If you’re interested in following our coffee, go to www.fairtradeproof.org.
3. Sin of Vagueness – A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. “All-Natural” is a great example.
4. Sin of Worshiping False Labels – A product that gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement occurs.
5. Sin of Irrelevance – An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. “CFC-Free” is an example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFC’s are banned by law.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – A claim that may be true, but distracts the consumer from the greater environmental impact. Organic cigarettes or fuel efficient sport-utility vehicles are examples.
7. Sin of Fibbing – Environmental claims that are simply false.

We’ve worked hard to get the certifications we have and are quite proud of them. If you’d like more information, please let us know.

My point – read the label.  And then read a little further.  When it comes to coffee, if you’re buying fairly traded, organic, direct relationship coffee, have your roaster prove it.

We are working on starting a chapter of the VPS here.  They are an excellent group whose purpose is to preserve our vinyl music heritage by fostering active, all inclusive community building amongst the passionately interested and curious to promote enjoyment and education relating to vinyl records, record collecting, record playing and all associated matters of analog musicology regardless of listening tastes.

The Vinyl Preservation Society of Idaho was founded on the following principles and respectfully asks its members to adopt them and embrace them as their own.

1. Honor the importance of music as an art form
2. Listen actively and with intention
3. Respect others and their musical choices
4. Maintain an open mind and a curious ear
5. Choose vinyl whenever there’s a musical choice to be made
6. Preserve our vinyl heritage by caring for and about vinyl records
7. Recognize your ownership of the Society by actively influencing its direction
   and development
8. Evangelize the vinyl life and your role as an Ambassador for the Society at
   every opportunity
9. Share your vinyl history, knowledge and passion
10. Support your local independent record merchants

Let us know if you are interested in getting involved with a new chapter here, or if you just want to listen to some vinyl.

Our friends at Sonofresco and Loring SmartRoast have asked us to check out their tabletop Commercial Coffee Roaster to see how it works as a sample roaster for our Loring Kestrel S35 SmartRoaster.

So far, we have found that it closely duplicates the roast levels and taste profiles that we get from our Loring.  It easily roasts a standard sized green bean sample and can even go up to 1 pound to experiment with roast levels.  Roast level is easily adjusted, and roast times are about 12-13 minutes (very similar to the Kestrel S35).

Look for some new coffees coming soon.

We just got a new toy in the lab.  A LaMarzocco Linea Paddle Group.   This thing has manual preinfusion and PID temperature control.

We have been testing different temperatures with all of our espressos…what a difference a half a degree makes!

We will post some results soon, but this machine is pulling the best shots we have tasted in quite a while.

Come by the roastery if you want to find out what the perfect DOMA shot should taste like.

Oh, yeah, it steams some pretty good milk, too…

Check out these guys!  Freeman Transport, Missoula, MT.

The most popular camping vans ever manufactured are now available for rent. Go green and see the Great Northwest, Eastern Washington, North Idaho, or Western Montana in a customized Dragonflyvan™. These classic Vanagon Campers have been completely refurbished and are in top mechanical condition. Check out their website, or stop by…they are right down the street from the roastery.

The guys from Rapha Continental stopped by Le Petit Outre a while ago. In case you don’t know, LPO is the best bakery in our area (even though they are in Missoula, MT…3 hours away).
Check out the full post with some great photos here.

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Marco has worked for many months coming up with a new espresso blend and finally it is here…

We have spent hours roasting, blending tasting to get the perfect blend.  It is dark, bold, rich and chocolately. Check it out today…it will blow your mind.  Available now on-line.

By the way, marco has been slaving away to create this perfect blend and who knows what will happen if you dont buy it.  we might have to send him back to the coffee farm in Brasil for another few months to work on his mustache.