Common Coffee
Common Coffee’s Approach to Sustainability
For Common Coffee, environmental sustainability is about making better decisions in the parts of the business it can control, while being honest about the challenges that remain.
The small roastery, based at Rosemains Steading in Pathhead, has taken a practical approach to reducing its environmental impact, from roasting coffee on electricity and generating power on site to reducing waste and building longer term relationships with producers.
For Common Coffee, sustainability is about making choices that support the business, its suppliers and the future of the coffee industry.
Making the Switch to Electric Roasting
Common Coffee began roasting coffee in 2017, when the business borrowed and refurbished an old 5kg electric roaster. From the beginning, the business chose electricity rather than gas and has continued with that approach as it has grown.
When Common Coffee scaled up in 2021, it refurbished an old 12kg Probat rather than buying a new machine, showcasing its commitment to circularity.
For Common Coffee, electric roasting offers both environmental and operational benefits. Unlike gas, electric roasting can be decarbonised as the electricity supply becomes cleaner. Common Coffee runs on 100% renewable electricity, with around 30% generated on site.
The electric roaster also gives the team greater control over temperature and airflow, helping them achieve consistent results from batch to batch.
“An electric roaster can be decarbonised by decarbonising the electricity behind it. A gas roaster cannot, whatever you do to it.”
The decision has not been without its challenges. Electricity costs more than gas, creating a significant financial cost for the business. Common Coffee has responded by generating more of its own electricity and focusing closely on efficiency.
The business is continuing to look at ways to increase the amount of electricity it generates on site, with 30% seen as a starting point rather than a ceiling.
Looking Beyond the Roast
While roasting is an important part of Common’s approach, the business recognises that it represents only a small part of coffee’s overall environmental footprint. Scope 3 emissions, such as farming inputs, shipping and what happens to the coffee once it reaches the customer all have a major role to play. This has led Common to look more closely at the wider supply chain, as well as areas such as delivery, demand forecasting and measurement.
The business is also working to improve its understanding of its emissions, moving from estimates towards more robust data that can be shared with wholesale customers.
“You cannot reduce what you have not properly counted, and if we are going to make claims about this, we want them to stand up.”
This focus on measurement has also helped Common identify waste and inefficiencies that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Building More Resilient Supply Chains
Responsible sourcing is central to Common Coffee’s approach to sustainability.
The business works with partners including Ocafi and Daterra, as well as being part of coffee programmes run by Allys and DR Wakefield. These programmes provide longer term relationships between farms and buyers, including agreed prices and annual purchasing commitments.
Common Coffee also recognises the growing impact of climate volatility on coffee production. Changing conditions can affect both the availability and quality of crops, making long term relationships with producers increasingly important.
Rather than moving between suppliers whenever market conditions change, Common Coffee aims to maintain its relationships with farms through both good and difficult years.
For the business, this is part of building a fair coffee supply chain that can remain viable for the long term.
Reducing Waste and Making Better Use of Resources
Some of Common Coffee’s sustainability work has started with simple problems that were directly visible in the roastery.
Coffee chaff, the papery skin removed from coffee beans during roasting, was one of them. Rather than sending it away as waste, Common Coffee gives its chaff and spent coffee grounds to other businesses based at Rosemains Steading, including gardeners and a florist.
The material is then returned to the ground just a few hundred metres from where it was roasted.
Other changes include repurposing hessian coffee sacks and recycling cardboard and soft plastics.
The business also roasts subscriptions to order rather than producing coffee for stock, helping to reduce the amount of coffee that could become stale.
Sustainability that makes business sense
Taking action on sustainability has also brought unexpected benefits to Common Coffee. The business has also found that its approach can create commercial opportunities. Hospitality businesses and hotel groups are increasingly looking at their own emissions, including emissions within their supply chains. Being able to offer a low carbon roasting partner can therefore help those businesses address their own sustainability goals.
For Common Coffee, sustainability has also encouraged greater discipline across the business. Measuring emissions has led the team to look more closely at waste, efficiency and how resources are being used.
The business sees this as a wider benefit of taking sustainability seriously.
“The sustainability work has made us a tidier business.”
Looking Ahead
Common Coffee sees Scope 3 emissions as one of its biggest remaining challenges.
While the business has made significant progress in reducing emissions from its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions, much of the wider footprint sits within the supply chain, including farming and shipping. This is why sustainable sourcing remains a priority for Common Coffee.
There is also a wider ambition to make sustainability part of how the business operates rather than something considered separately.
“The ambition is growing significantly without the footprint growing with us. Being able to give any wholesale partner their emissions data on request rather than as a special project. And sharing what we have learned about electric roasting rather than sitting on it.”
For other small food and drink businesses starting their own sustainability journey, Common’s advice is straightforward: start with what you can see, focus on changes that also make business sense, and do not wait for a perfect plan before taking action.
The journey started with a refurbished roaster and a sack of coffee chaff. For Common Coffee, it continues through the everyday decisions that shape how the business operates.
