27 Jan Meet jute coffee

With a small team in the heart of the Northamptonshire countryside, jute Coffee is delivering outstanding coffee without compromising its strong environmental values.

The company was founded by Craig in 2018, who dreamed of running a coffee business with the environment at the core of the business, the following year, Kerry joined Craig as the other half of jute Coffee, with a love of coffee and the same beliefs in doing what they can to look after the planet and growing the zero waste coffee business.

jute was born- They source and hand roast quality, 100% arabica beans from small cooperatives around the world. Fairtrade cooperatives give farmers a fair income, with opportunities and access to community resources, including educational and water projects. This enables farmers to keep producing in the future in a sustainable way.

Sustainability is at the core of the business. jute Coffee was the UK’s first coffee supplier to supply coffee beans to commercial customers in reusable tubs, the food safe tubs are designed to last for 25 years before being recycled, the empties are collected when new coffee is delivered, they are then washed and refilled, saving a huge 1000 coffee bags from landfill per tub over their lifetime. They also offer a recycling service, working with bio-bean they collect used grounds from commercial customers to be recycled into coffee logs.
Retail coffee is packaged in bags which are made from at least 70% sugarcane made from waste from the sugarcane industry, in a jute colour that is easily recyclable along with the label. This was a difficult search for the right product, as coffee must be packaged in a bag with a one-way valve to allow any excess CO2 to escape and needed to be strong enough to protect the coffee.

With the ultimate aim to be a zero-waste business they also:
• Sponsor a beehive for every 500kg of coffee sold.
• Where possible operate a paper-free office to cut down on paper and printer inks. They have digital to-do lists, scan bills and receipts and send invoices and purchase orders via email.
• Reuse any packaging that they receive.
• Supply local zero-waste, plastic-free shops.
• Use reusable cups at events, helping customers to step away from using takeaway coffee cups.
• Plan deliveries and routes to fit in as many in the same area as possible and where possible deliver more stock so they need deliveries less frequently, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
• Turn off equipment when not in use and don’t have lights on when it’s bright enough to work safely without them.

jute are award winning, in the 2022 Weetabix Food and Drink Awards, Jute received Silver in the Sustainability Award Category. They have also won Great Taste Awards for four consecutive years – the jute blend was awarded one star in 2019 – a couple of fine-tune adjustments later, and they won two stars in 2020 and 2021! The jute Decaf and Ethiopian single origin coffees also scooped a star in 2022.

You can find out more about jute on their website and follow them on Facebook