Impact

We were established in 2011 from a place of passion and ethical frustration. Our practices today reflect our founding values and contribute to the bigger picture.

At Dear Green our core values were never decided upon by a 'Corporate and Social Responsibility' statement, instead they have been engrained in our everyday practices from the very start. This is all thanks to the experiences, beliefs and standards of our founder and the team who have been hand picked to grow our business. From humble beginnings as a start up we are now positioned as a business that we believe can be a force for good! We're all about quality coffee and excellent customer service but we keep it real with solid ethical practices. Here's how:

Ethical Employer

Maybe if we had been treated well by our past employers, we wouldn't have started a company! Based on some terrible previous employment experiences we have always done everything we can to ensure our team are never underpaid, undervalued and discriminated against. We have open conversations about career progression within the team, provide education and training and we've never hired anyone to work on less than the Real Living Wage. We care about our staff and in turn they care about our customers! #teamdeargreen

Environmentally Aware

We started off on such a tight budget that all of our equipment was second hand which we still maintain and use daily. As we've grown we have invested in the newest, most energy efficient equipment! Our packaging is biodegradable and if you're a wholesale customer, we supply bulk coffee in reusable buckets with vacuum lids to ensure absolute freshness along with a sound environmental solution. We don't have all of the answers but we ask all of the questions and have adapted our processes along our journey to find the best solutions available to us to supply with minimum carbon output.

Everything we do is instinctive. We recycle; we reuse; we compost; we minimise waste; we reduce packaging; we always have! We did all of this before Climate Change awareness hit the headlines! We will continue to find the best environmental solution in all that we do, in fact we only went and organised the worlds first single use cup free coffee festival. You can read more about our practices on our guest blog for Circular Glasgow. Together we can all make a difference!

 

In 2020 we proudly achieved B Corp Certification following an assessment of our ethical statements and business practices and our commitment to putting people and planet before profit. You can read more over on our blog.

Thanks to the B Corp community we are now part of the B Corp Climate Collective, which is committed to the Race to Zero to address the climate emergency and to meet and (exceed) the Paris Agreement target to achieve a zero carbon economy.

 

As part of this commitment we have been supported by Green Element to measure our footprint and have registered to donate to 1% for the Planet; we are always looking to donate to environmental projects in Scotland.

Our Sourcing Policies

You'll find all the buzz words here! Ethical. Sustainable. Traceable. Speciality. We tick all of these boxes and more. But how is this quantifiable? How can we justify our sourcing? Well we can't, nobody can! But we try our hardest to be as fully informed and educated as we possibly can be and can pass this knowledge on along the supply chain with complete transparency. Not only are we committed to always having direct trade links and to personally visiting the coffee origins to form and maintain relationships with importers, exporters and producers, we also look after the other side of our supply chain by being SALSA accredited ensuring a 'food safe' and fully traceable product with the audits and record keeping to justify the hashtags! And if that third party audit isn't good enough we're also proudly a certified B Corp ensuring we are held accountable for all our business practices and giving us a framework to be even better in all we do!

Sourcing through direct trade links allows us to pay a premium above the commodity price and allows absolute transparency and integrity in all we do, whilst also overcoming structural issues of traceability within the industry. Check out our blog on some of our origin trips to find out more about how we can proudly and honestly state that we source directly, ethically, seasonally and in support of the future of coffee growing communities. 

We declare full transparency on our blog posts following our trips to Colombia, Burundi  and Brazil.

Quality and Sustainability

We only source, roast and supply 'specialty grade' coffee. This is coffee which has a minimum score of 80/100 when graded for attributes such as aroma, flavour and uniformity. By having a Q Grader in our team, licensed by the Coffee Quality Institute, we know for absolute sure that we are investing in the right beans! We know that by investing in quality we are investing in a sustainable future for coffee producers and we are confident in the sourcing choices we make for you! This is our contribution to the future. By donating to World Coffee Research annually we are able to fund programs to identify barriers to quality for producers, the effects of climate change, disease, pests and low yields. We want to help find solutions to ensure the future of coffee for us all!

Completing the Supply Chain

It's not just about the sourcing! Roasting and brewing are also where our specialism shines! We're fortunate enough to be able to tap into the endless knowledge, science and education from the Speciality Coffee Association through being members of the Coffee Roasters Guild and Barista Guild. You can even come to our roastery to be trained by our Authorised Trainers (ASTs) to advance your own knowledge and education and be confident in our commitment to training with the most up to date research, theory and qualifications available from our international network of coffee pros! Ethical training anyone?! Get in touch or check out our classes here!

We are committed to donating 2% of our annual revenue to charitable organisations, read on to discover our ethical partnerships:

Girls Gotta Run: We sell all of our used coffee sacks for £1 which we donate to this Ethiopian non-profit organisation set up to empower woman and their communities.

Social Bite: We donate £1 from the sale of all 250g bags of our Social Bite Blend collaboration to support those experiencing homelessness in Scotland.

Green Heart Growers: Together with Green City Wholefoods Coop we donate £1 from the sale of all 250g bags of our Dear Green City Blend to support this local community garden project.

Frontline Fuel: Thanks to a collaboration with Falcon Specialty, one of our green bean suppliers, we roast and deliver coffee to NHS workers locally to keep hydration stations replenished and fully caffeinated during this time of COVID-19.

Three Roasters - An annual collaboration project with donations made to Women's Fund for Scotland and The Circle.

Glasgow Coffee Festival: We are the founders and organisers of Scotland's biggest coffee party! All profits are donated to nominated charities annually including Glasgow City Mission.

The Organic Food Federation: We are certified to roast and legitimately supply organically grown coffee. 

Real Living Wage: We have proudly supported and promoted this movement for equality and fairness since we were established in 2011.

The Coffee Quality Institute: We are licensed graders for this non-profit organisation which works internationally to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of people who produce it.

SALSA: We are accredited for Safe and Local Supplier Approval giving proof to our customers that we have a fully traceable and 'food safe' product.

Glasgow Allotment Association: Bi-products from our roasting process, coffee chaff and Grain Pro Bags are collected and reused on local allotments!

Revive Eco: These local ethical entrepreneurs collect used coffee grounds from many of our wholesale partners, repurpose them and offer a circular economy solution.

Circular Glasgow: We proudly engage with this local network to remain educated and informed on how we update and implement better practice into our processes.

World Coffee Research: We contribute to ensuring a sustainable future for coffee by donating a percentage of our profits to fund ongoing research.