Sourcing Responsibly at Daylesford: Extract Coffee Roasters
From our organic farmland to our kitchens, production units, farmshops and cafés, we strive to operate as sustainably as possible at Daylesford.
Sourcing responsibly is an integral part of what we do; when we cannot produce something ourselves, we take care to work with people who share the same core values. They all work as hard as we do to be ethical, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Ethically sourced coffee
We work with Extract Coffee Roasters to source the speciality single-origin arabica coffee beans used to brew the delicious organic coffee we serve in Daylesford cafés and sell as beans or grounds in our farmshop.
Bristol-based Extract began life roasting beans from a garden shed and make every effort to ensure ethical practices both overseas and in the UK too. Extract only works with coffee farms that promote good practices, use sustainable methods of cultivation and give opportunities to their workers. This way, they have a positive impact on communities and help to provide a better future.
Daylesford arabica beans come from Liquidambar organic farm in Honduras. Of the farm’s 60 hectares, 25 are kept as wild forest to ensure thriving wildlife and a rich permaculture. The farm only uses natural fertilisers and any by-products from production are turned into compost, used to enrich the following season’s harvest. Each coffee bean is hand-picked by workers who are given housing and healthcare. Liquidambar also provides drinking water to over 5000 people in the surrounding villages and communities.
In remote northern Peru, Extract works closely with an organic farming cooperative of over 1000 smallholders which supports farmers to produce better coffee whilst still earning a sustainable living.
Back in the UK, Extract continues their community support, working with Shelter to provide barista training to the homeless and offering work experience placements. In 2018 Extract supported more than 20 charities and grass-roots community projects.
Extract’s coffee beans are always shipped to the UK and never sent by air freight.
Their roastery is powered from 90% renewable electricity and the roasting machines are all reconditioned or upcycled. Daylesford’s coffee beans are roasted on a vintage Probat roaster called Bertha, rescued from Bosnia where it had been reduced to a pile of rusting parts. Bertha now runs 60% more efficiently than when new, following a four year restoration.
Any waste from the roasting process is recycled into bio-fuel and renewable energy. The coffee grounds are anaerobically digested to create bio-methane which is injected back into the national grid, while leftover chaff is used by a local community farm as bio-fertiliser. In just three months enough bio-fuel is created to poach 26,000 eggs.
Their new London training space, where Daylesford baristas are trained, is built from waste materials salvaged from housing projects, even using old screws and nails.
Extract believes in the positive power of every cup of coffee. Just like Daylesford, they are always looking for opportunities to make positive and sustainable changes to benefit the environment and our future – one of the many reasons that partnering with them is a natural choice.
