Recent Acquisitions

I didn't really need another reason to love Larry's Beans. A coffee roaster across the state in Raleigh, Larry's already has so much going on for their beans and their business. They use organic, shade-grown beans (which is better for birds and bugs), they engage in fair-trade practices (wherein people are treated like, well, people, and not commodities), they heat their building with solar panels and they slow-roast their beans in a passive solar, rainwater-harvesting warehouse. Sounds good, right?

And now, to really up the ante, their coffee bags are biodegradable. This means a lot to me. Typically, I try to reuse the same coffee bag every time I need more joe. After a while, though, the bag starts to fall apart. I'll then rip it up, add it to the compost pile, and grab a new one the next time I'm picking up bulk beans. On occasion, though, I forget and leave the bag at home. When that happens, or sometimes if a specific blend that I really like is on sale, I buy a prepackaged bag of coffee. I recently found another local supplier I adored and wrote them on Twitter to find out if their bags are recyclable. Sadly, they aren't. With Larry's, though, I needn't worry, as the bag will break down on its own.

I make a good deal of purchase choices based on the "end of life" cycle of a product. I'd like to be able to recycle, upcycle, repurpose, reuse or biodegrade something after I'm done using it. Business decisions like this one from Larry's make my purchase decisions so much easier.