Tony’s Coffee Wins National “Roaster of the Year” Award by Roast Magazine

Tony’s Coffee in Bellingham, Washington was just named by Roast Magazine the “2021 Macro Roaster of the Year.” This prestigious industry award recognizes product excellence, sustainability practices, industry leadership, roasting innovation, and commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity. “Our commitment to sourcing high quality, sustainable coffee has always guided our path and we are honored to receive this industry recognition,” shares CEO Todd Elliott.

Caring for coffee farms and farmers is even more critical as a new study predicts that, due to climate change, half of the land currently suitable for Arabica coffee production will not be suitable by 2050 (World Coffee Research). Tony’s Coffee became one of the country’s first carbon neutral roasteries and is now focusing on its historic carbon footprint.

“Offsetting 50 years’ worth of carbon emissions sounds daunting, but we’re up to the challenge! We’ve seen some of the devastation caused by climate change first hand and our hearts go out to the coffee farmers struggling with drought, disease, and diminishing farmable land,” states Elliott.

Environmental Stewardship in Action

• Tony’s Coffee is working with Gold Standard to offset five years’ worth of emissions every year for the next decade, with the goal of offsetting its entire historic carbon footprint by 2030.  
  
• Tony’s Coffee is proud to be a founding member of World Coffee Research. The organization helped develop a new coffee plant variety (an F-1 hybrid) that is more productive when grown under a canopy of shade trees, eliminating the need for coffee farmers to clear cut virgin rainforest to grow coffee in full sun conditions. David Yake, Director of Sustainability shares, “WCR does incredibly important work and we're proud to support them.”
  
• Tony’s Coffee has contributed more than $1M in social premium dollars to the Fair Trade program. Many farms in Chiapas, Mexico have been devastated by rust due to climate change (example). “Our social premium dollars helped farmers in this area start a nursery, where they're growing more resilient, rust-resistant varieties. These efforts will help the community re-plant and recover from the effects of coffee leaf rust more quickly,” states Yake.

Company Milestones

• 2002: Became one of the country’s first coffee roasters to source organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee from farmer-owned cooperatives.
• 2006: Began purchasing 100 percent renewable electricity for roastery.
• 2012: Became a founding member of World Coffee Research.
• 2018: Surpassed $1,000,000 in social premiums paid out to fair trade coffee cooperatives around the world. These funds have helped build schools, roads, and clean water facilities.
• 2019: Installed a high efficiency, American-built Loring Roaster. This new technology helped reduce the company’s carbon footprint at the roastery by 40 percent. 
• 2020: Converted roastery and delivery fleet to become 100 percent carbon neutral. 
• 2030: Goal to become historically carbon neutral (offset entire carbon emissions from 1971 to 2030).

Specialty Coffee Products

All of Tony’s Coffees are available for purchase at www.tonyscoffee.com and come in in 12oz and 5lb sizes. All coffee is roasted to order and customers can choose between whole bean or freshly ground options.   Best selling products include:

Look for the Helpers Blend: A Mr. Roger’s-inspired, medium roast blend, with notes of cocoa and praline. 100 percent of the profits from the sale of this blend support Bellingham Food Bank. This was one of the three award-winning entries that Tony’s Coffee submitted to Roast Magazine’s panel of Q Grader judges.

Cafe Carmelita: Tony’s most popular blend. This medium roast is delicious as espresso or drip, with notes of cocoa, orange, and, as the name suggests, caramel. It’s certified organic, fair trade, and shade grown.

Sugar Bee Espresso: Tony’s flagship espresso blend won first place at the America’s Best Espresso competition. This seasonally-rotating blend showcases complex fruit and chocolate notes.

Ethiopia Misty Valley Natural Process: This high-grown, limited time offering is a light roast with notes of mango, strawberry, and milk chocolate.

Eco-friendly Single Serve Capsules (k-cups): Available for Cafe Carmelita and French Royale. The outer box is made with post-consumer materials, plastic pods are recyclable, and the inner filter / coffee grounds are compostable. Pods contain 15 grams of fair trade, organic coffee, 50 percent more than the industry average, which results in a strong, full-bodied cup of coffee.

About Tony’s Coffee: In 1971, the smell of freshly roasted coffee came to Bellingham, Washington. Tony’s Coffee first started roasting fine coffees and serving espresso at their street-level coffeehouse in Bellingham’s historic Fairhaven district. The family-owned company continues to roast in small batches, selecting the highest quality, shade grown, GMO-free, organic, fair trade coffees from farmer-owned cooperatives. Tony’s is a leader in the sustainable coffee movement, and recently became one of the country’s first carbon neutral roasteries. They are also a founding member of World Coffee Research, an organization that helps small scale farmers adapt to climate change. Their team of 40 employees provide wholesale coffee to many natural food grocers, offices, and cafes in the Pacific Northwest. A variety of coffees are available online for purchase at www.tonyscoffee.com.