By Kevin Pilley
This week’s National Coffee Week sees the launch of the first Nespresso Eco Pod Coffee Advent calendar.
The £32.99 calendar contains best-selling all-organic, ethically-sourced pod coffees as well as the world’s first Sail Ship coffee in a pod and  the world’s first bird-friendly coffee pod for Nespresso machines. Some contain golden eggs with prizes like free coffee subscriptions and coffee-making machines. Ordered now, the plastic-free calendars will be delivered in the first week of November.
“ We set out to help pod machine owners to make an easy swap away from plastic and aluminium pods without sacrificing taste. From the premium we pay our growers to the way our coffees are grown and the charities we support, we are putting purpose not profits at the centre of our coffee businessm” says Lex Thornely  who founded Blue Goose Coffee with Nick Ratsey.
“We’re actively embracing green technology.”
The Wiltshire-based company is named after one the world’s rarest breeds of bird , the Absyssinian Blue-Winged Goose.
100% of the money raised during UK Coffee Week will  support Project Waterfall’s work to bring clean drinking water, sanitation and education to coffee growing communities.  Ccoffee shops, roasters, retailers and coffee lovers unite for one week every year to raise funds for Project Waterfall and give back to coffee-growing communities.
Since 2011, the UK Coffee Week community has raised over ÂŁ800,000 for Project Waterfall, reaching over 45,000 people with clean drinking water, sanitation and education.
In 2021, funds raised during the campaign supported  its project in the Jabi Tehnan district of Ethiopia which will change over 10,000 lives.
Events incluie the Shoreditch Boxpark Coffes Bus serving Alpro’s Barista range of plant-based drinks, all day Thursday & Friday. You can nmake your own coffee cup and filter at a Muddy Fingers Pottery evening at the Hive Coffee Company, attend the  Caravan Coffee School and participate in some public cupping at Crankhouse Coffee.
Coffee-Pod-Advent
The first entirely aluminium and plastic-free coffee pod Advent calendar of its kind is crafted from sustainable sourced board and printed using vegetable inks, making it 100% kerbside recyclable and home compostable.
All coffees are Organic certified, maximising biodiversity and minimising fertiliser-associated emissions in the field. Organic, shade grown coffee reduces CO2 emissions by 15kg CO2e p/KG of coffee grown versus non-organic grown coffee.
The calendars are packed by the Devon Disability Collective, a Social Enterprise that provides quality employment & training for people with disabilities & those furthest from the labour market.
World’s First Sail Ship Coffee Pod is filled with organic, Fairtrade coffee grown by 4 indigenous communities in Columbia’s Sierra Nevada region, this coffee was transported to Europe on a 1920s sail ship, saving 3483kg of CO2 versus a container ship (the equivalent emissions of an 18,000km car journey).
Says Ratsey : “Our Columbian Clave De Sol coffee is helping preserve critical habitat for birds and wildlife, fight climate change, protect biodiversity and support farmers committed to conservation and sustainable farming too.  Our Ethiopian Forest Coffees nurtured under the canopy of huge ancient trees in the wild forests of Ethiopia’s Oromia region by a 3rd generation farming family on wild coffee plants sourced from the Choché forest, which is considered the birthplace of coffee.
“Our Aymaran coffee represents a direct fight against consultants advising the Yungas people of Bolivia to strip their coffee plantations of any biodiversity and use man-made crop chemicals. We launched the UK’s first Swiss Water® Decaf pod in 2017 and it’s been a top seller ever since. Grown organically in Peru, it is naturally decaffeinated without the paint-stripper solvents commonly used in over 50% of the world’s decafs.”
