Five Coffee Brands Willing to Do Good

If you’re looking for a little bit more from your cup of Joe, you may be on the hunt for a coffee company that actually cares. Is there such a thing? Are there coffee brands that are willing to give back on top of providing a fresh, quality, and delicious product?

The good news is that quite a few coffee brands from large to small have made a commitment to the community, both with sustainable practices and charitable donations, starting with…

1. Starbucks: While this may be stating the obvious, Starbucks makes it clear to all of their customers that they are dedicated to benefiting local communities. For starters, Starbucks participates in the Global Month of Service in April by helping with a number of service projects worldwide. As of April 2012, Starbucks helped to complete 2100 community service projects with a whopping 230,000 service hours contributed in only 30 days. Starbucks community service information can be found on their community website.

2. Peet’s Coffee & Tea: Peet’s is another coffee big dog that works hard to support both global nonprofits and domestic charitable organizations with annual fundraising programs. Peet’s is most well-known for their holiday fundraising tradition by offering free coffee and tea in retail stores on December 24. Any contributions given will be matched by Peet’s and donated to a charitable organization. This fundraising tradition has been going on since 2003, where both customers and employees raised and donated over $115,000.

3. Pura Vida Coffee: The Create Good Foundation offers freshly roasted coffee, fair trade and organic teas, wine, Guatemalan chocolate, and assorted gifts for the purpose of helping the poor who live in coffee growing regions worldwide. Their specific focus is on water and economic infrastructure projects since a lack of clean water is one of the top causes of disease in the world, affecting millions of people a year. Since there are 25 million small coffee producers globally with humble farmers that live on less than $2 a day, these communities need the most help to access a sanitary, clean water supply.

4. HyperHound Coffee: Dog lovers are going to appreciate HyperHound Coffee, working to save man’s best friend one cup at a time. HyperHound was started by a Houston high school teacher who helped a number of street dogs by providing food and water. Finally, she decided to start a business that would support no-kill animal shelter funding to give homeless dogs a place to rehabilitate and find a home. Now, HyperHound donates 15% of all profits from their retail organic and free trade coffee to rescue shelters.

5. ONEbean Coffee: ONEbean coffee works hard to help community and non-profit organizations raise money through coffee sales. Even better, they provide a top-quality product made with fresh roasted 100% Arabica coffee beans. ONEbean coffee is both fair trade and organic, committed to environmental sustainability and supporting the local coffee grower. Organizations can also use ONEbean for fundraising by selling certified organic or fair trade coffee produced with a custom label and logo.

Bethany Ramos is a full-time freelance writer and coffee lover that co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.