There’s always lots on your mind whilst you whip up your morning cup of joe (like which new year's resolutions you’ve already given up on, or why storms have such stupid names). But one thing that’s probably not taking up your mental space is what happens to the coffee that doesn’t quite make it to someone’s favourite mug. 

Every year, millions of kilograms of surplus coffee (and millions of slightly imperfect coffee machine pods) are sent to landfill by coffee roasters. But why isn’t this coffee making the cut? And who’s trying to combat the issue? It’s time to Dish the Dirt.

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

For those of us who aren’t expert coffee connoisseurs (like us - we’ll stick to cleaning thanks) - here’s how coffee is made. Coffee plants produce berries, which are harvested. The skin is then removed, leaving the green beans inside (green coffee…yum?). This is then shipped to roasters (e.g. Starbucks) to be roasted, ground, and turned into coffee (and sometimes popped into pods). 

But like most things in life, not every batch will turn out perfectly. Sometimes, roasters accidentally make too much, sometimes the packaging just doesn’t quite cut it, and sometimes…there might be a dent or two in a pod. In these unfortunate cases, the coffee will end up getting thrown away. And when coffee decomposes in landfill, it releases methane -  a greenhouse gas that has an effect that is 28x higher than CO2. When you take into account the energy needed to farm and harvest the plants, ship the beans, and roast the beans - that’s a hell of a lot of emissions for something that will never even see the inside of a mug.

HOW ARE WE TACKLING IT?

Whilst the International Coffee Organisation is seeing a reduction in surplus every year (partly due to an increase in consumption and better estimations of stock requirements), surplus and slightly misshapen pods will always be there… which is where companies like Wonky Coffee come in. 

The past few years have seen a rise in the companies rescuing surplus and imperfect products, and sending them out to people who are happy to have slightly wonky products. Oddbox are rescuing wonky veg, Square Root are rescuing lemon juice from limoncello production, and Rubies in the Rubble turning surplus produce into long shelf-life relishes and condiments . 

Wonky Coffee rescue their pods and grounds from some of the best independent coffee roasters in the UK, rescue their surplus coffee, repackage it into beautiful 100% recyclable packaging and ship it out for a fraction of their usual price. From the artisanal micro-roasters, to the household named brands we all know and love. It makes sense.

WONKY COFFEE X HOMETHINGS

As two small companies trying to tackle big issues, in big industries – we’ve joined forces with Wonky Coffee to spread the word about solutions that make sense.

Whilst stocks last, get your hands on one of JUST 100 packs of our VANILLA LATTE fragrance, with the option to add in a pack of WONKY COFFEE beans, grounds, or pods

It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.