Did you know that over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day? Coffee has come a long way since its discovery over a thousand years ago in the Ethiopian highlands.
Legend has it a local shepherd named Kaldi discovered coffee. He noticed that his goats became energetic and wouldn't sleep through the night after eating berries from a certain tree. It's now the centre of a is now a multi-billion pound industry. When something gets that big, chances are that the environment is going to suffer somewhat. We all love a morning 'cup of joe' but there are lots of things we can do reduce the impact of our favourite pick me up and make our coffee eco-friendly.
Reduce your coffee intake
OK, let's take care of the elephant in the room. The cultivation, processing and transport of coffee is extremely resource intensive.
Simply drinking less coffee is probably one of the best things you can do to protect the environment. This isn't about stopping altogether, just being mindful of your consumption. If you are already on two coffees for the day and are about to go for your third, hold off. Or perhaps give up coffee on the weekend.
Buy Sustainable coffee
Coffee is one of the world's most popular beverages and 80% of it is produced by 25 million smallholders. As a counter to point 1. Coffee is a vital cash crop for many developing countries. Simply stopping consumption would hit farmers hard.
What we can do is support sustainable farming practices. When you are shopping for coffee look out for these two certifications, Fairtrade and Soil Association. Fairtrade guarantees that farmer receive at least the Fairtrade Minumum Price for their coffee. This is set at a level which aims to cover their costs of production and acts as a safety net if market prices were to fall.
The Soil Association works closely with small scale farmers. It ensures that organic farming practices are being use especially in relation to pesticide and fertilisers.
Make coffee at home
When you make coffee at home, you know where the coffee has come from, where the coffee grounds go and how its served. With the cost of an Americano around £2.50 from a coffee shop it's also a lot cheaper to make it at home. Next time you plan to meet up at a coffee shop, how about arranging it at home?
Reduce energy
There are some great eco-friendly coffee machine on the market that use less energy than their traditional counterparts.
But, what if is you don't use a machine and just rely on a trusty kettle? Here are a few tips to reduce your energy usage:
- Don't boil more water than you need
- Clean the kettle of limescale regularly. Being coated in limescale reduces its heat transfer efficiency.
- If you don't have a kettle or can pick one up secondhand, Invest in an temperature controlled kettle. When you brew coffee you need hot, not boiling water, so why not invest in a kettle that will only raise the temperature to a level you need.
Try cold brew coffee
Heating water for your morning coffee takes energy - whether that's electricity for a kettle or gas to heat a saucepan. Do away with all that and try a cold brew coffee, perfect for those hot summer days and a super eco-friendly way to make coffee!
To get started, grab some coarse coffee grounds and add them to a large jar or jug. You wan to add about 8x times more water than coffee, c. 50g to 400ml cold water.
Let it steep for 12-24 hours, depending on how strong you would like it. Pour the coffee mixture into another jug through a sieve, gauze etc. anything you have to catch the coffee grounds. Done!
The cold brew coffee will last around 2-3 days in the fridge. How you serve the coffee is up to you, drink it neat for an espresso type drink or dilute with still or sparkling water for a refreshing pick me up.
Run Your Business
Make sure that you do get the crafting shop supplies that you are looking for and can count on as you are handling each person’s hair.
The supplies you maintain are part of your business reputation, and a cutting hair is an art, which requires only the best equipment and tools.
You also want wholesale prices as you browse the vast online selection and fill your shopping cart with all the items you need at once. And, when you need something else, you know where to go.
Of course, when you’re running a business, you expect to get what you order quickly in order to keep up with your daily operations.
Conclusion
Do you run a barber shop? If so, you’re always in need of barber supplies to keep your business running and your clients happy. Whether its new clippers and different accessories used to cut hair or products that you’re selling to help people manage their hair better on their own.
