Our Story & Values
A lifelong love of coffee
My lifelong love of coffee was kickstarted at the age of seven, when I mastered the Italian stove-top coffee maker my mother had brought home. She’d said I was allowed to drink coffee when I could make it myself.
In 2003 I headed overseas and had a ball, drinking coffee all over southern Europe. The feeling among the NZ “coffeerati” was that in NZ we were among the best in the world, which indeed we were. However, it soon became obvious to me that there was still a great deal of room for improvement. Europe had some small coffee roasters that were producing wonderful character coffees that I thought would really go off In New Zealand.
So when I returned to Nelson I did much research and a great deal of experimentation to boot. The result was some fine blends and intriguing single origins. These were tested on friends and family, who came back with many accolades and thus, in 2006, Kush coffee was born.
In 2003 I headed overseas and had a ball, drinking coffee all over southern Europe. The feeling among the NZ “coffeerati” was that in NZ we were among the best in the world, which indeed we were. However, it soon became obvious to me that there was still a great deal of room for improvement. Europe had some small coffee roasters that were producing wonderful character coffees that I thought would really go off In New Zealand.
So when I returned to Nelson I did much research and a great deal of experimentation to boot. The result was some fine blends and intriguing single origins. These were tested on friends and family, who came back with many accolades and thus, in 2006, Kush coffee was born.
Our Values
We source the world’s best coffee beans. Not only are they best in flavour but also best in terms of the environment and Social Justice.
All our coffee is organic, Shade-grown and handpicked.
All our coffee is organic, Shade-grown and handpicked.
Shade-grown
All our coffee is shade-grown. Shade-grown coffee requires very little or no chemical spraying because it’s growing in a balanced eco-system. In addition, the forest-like nature of shade coffee farms provides habitat for high numbers of animals, birds, bats, reptiles, insects and plants. But sun-grown coffee provides little habitat and is among the most highly sprayed and chemically treated crops in the world.
Of all agricultural land uses, shade-grown coffee provides the most diversity of animals, plants and insects. Also, shade-grown coffee sequesters carbon whereas sun-grown coffee releases it.
All our coffee is shade-grown – with a quirky caveat! Ethiopia is the only coffee-growing country that doesn’t prune its coffee plants. Instead, the coffee plants are left to grow to their full height - about 10 metres, the size of a small tree. So in the case of our beans from Ethiopia, the coffee plants both receive shade from bigger trees and in their turn, also create shade for plants to flourish beneath. Again, this creates a balanced and healthy eco-system.
Of all agricultural land uses, shade-grown coffee provides the most diversity of animals, plants and insects. Also, shade-grown coffee sequesters carbon whereas sun-grown coffee releases it.
All our coffee is shade-grown – with a quirky caveat! Ethiopia is the only coffee-growing country that doesn’t prune its coffee plants. Instead, the coffee plants are left to grow to their full height - about 10 metres, the size of a small tree. So in the case of our beans from Ethiopia, the coffee plants both receive shade from bigger trees and in their turn, also create shade for plants to flourish beneath. Again, this creates a balanced and healthy eco-system.
What about Rainforest Alliance?
It’s a good start but it’s not as comprehensive as Fairtrade in terms of looking after the growers, the workers and the environment.
Organic
All our coffee beans are organic
Organic farming avoids the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides and irradiation. It’s an approach that works towards environmentally, socially and economically sustainable production. It relies on animal and plant manures, hand weeding and biological pest control.
Non-organic coffee is the most sprayed edible crop in the world. Most coffee is grown in developing countries, which have a highly unregulated chemical spray industry. The sprays have a detrimental effect on the health of the workers., on the soil and on the waterways they contaminate due to run-off.
Non-organic coffee is the most sprayed edible crop in the world. Most coffee is grown in developing countries, which have a highly unregulated chemical spray industry. The sprays have a detrimental effect on the health of the workers., on the soil and on the waterways they contaminate due to run-off.
Handpicked
All our coffee beans are handpicked
Handpicking creates jobs for local people in the developing countries where coffee predominantly grows. (It also results in beans with a superior flavour – it allows for only the ripe red berries to be picked. The flavour of beans from ripe berries is markedly better than from the beans of unripe berries).