Coffee for a Cause - thanks!

We’re back into the swing of a busy Friday at this stage - but we didn’t want to get to the weekend without thanking the team at Java Republic for hosting our Coffee for a Cause event this morning. (You can click on the image above to see more photos from this morning.)

We enjoyed great company, some tasty breakfast snacks and an energizing history of the brand from founder David McKernan. We also had a truly amazing “cupping” experience: Under the watchful eye of Gerry Hughes, their Coffee Quality Manager, we were treated to a blind tasting of Kopi Luwak - the most expensive coffee in the world. Costing well over $600 a pound, these beans are harvested from the droppings of a mountain lion in Indonesia that likes to munch on berries from the coffee tree. Apparently the big cat’s digestive system delivers a unique fermentation benefit to this hard-to-find coffee!

Thanks to everybody who made it out to The Roastery, with a particular appreciation to Coty Ireland and Java Republic for supplying goodie bags. We’ll be carrying out more of these coffee mornings to continue the fund-raising efforts: So if you couldn’t make it this time, keep an eye out for the next one - and if you want to donate, please click here.

Coffee for a Cause

For as long as we’ve known Java Republic, they’ve always aimed to better the lives of those who grow their coffee. This month sees Coffee for a Cause - a fundraising campaign to bring clean water to over 10,000 people in Ethiopia. We donated our time to brand and communicate the campaign - and we’re hosting a coffee morning at The Roastery next Friday. If you like great coffee for a good cause, click on the link on this page to get a chance for an invite.

Please spread the word!

New Work Alert! Java Republic’s The Other Bean for Kids launched today.

If you’re attending Catex 2011 over the next few days, be sure to check out the Java Republic Roasting Company stand for our trade show branding… and some great coffee!

Thanks to our clients at Java Republic, we attended the coffee-morning launch of the Special Olympics fund-raising day today - you can visit their site to donate online.

Whilst there, we met a kindred spirit in Willie O’Reilly, the CEO of Today FM. As we clutched our caffeinated kick-start to the day, we chatted about the one office expense that couldn’t be cut: Decent coffee.

Both DesignTactics and Today FM are customers for Java Republic’s office coffee service: Although recent times had required savings to be made in other areas, the coffee still flows for free.

Willie had (briefly) considered asking coffee drinkers to make a voluntary contribution for their fix - but decided the potential benefits were outweighed by the hassle and uncertainty of trying this out.

Interestingly, this kind of “honour payment” system has become well-researched in recent years, thanks to the Freakonomics team. In 2004, they ran a great article (PDF) (NYT link) about a office-bagel service run by a retired economist: He offered a very successful service delivering bagels to busy offices in Washington, DC - yet his customers were under no obligation to pay. Beside each basket of bagels was a cash box with a simple price list, asking those who took the bagels to pay up.

Being a retired economist, he took a lot of interest in his figures - and soon developed a great set of data on how honest people really are. The full article makes for a great read, but here’s some noteworthy points:

• More punters paid up when they knew the provider directly - his best collection rate was in the office where he used work.

• While the theft of bagels was as low as 10-15%, he discovered (pretty quickly) that he had to collect cash in a sealed box; the temptation to pilfer cash from an open container was greater than the lure of pilfered bagels. And no - the cash box itself almost never gets stolen.

• Those higher-up the corporate latter steal more bagels than their lesser-salaried colleagues.

• Businesses with good morale have the best payment rates - and smaller offices have far better payment rates than large organisations.

• When the economy goes down and unemployment goes up, there is a counterintuitive increase in honest payments. (Feelings of guilt amongst those still working?)

• And finally - for the day that’s in it - when the weather is good, he gets closer to a perfect match between bagels sold and bagels paid for.

Have a great weekend!

At Dublin CEB event as David McKernan (Java Republic) inspires entepreneurs- & talks about our brand.

Some caffeinated content to help those suffering after Arthur’s Day.

• Pic shows the Mypressi Twist - world’s first portable espresso machine.
• Article from portfolio.com on how Starbucks is responding to the squeeze by artisan roasters and improved fast food coffee.
• As befits the city that never sleeps, the New York Times has an ever-growing section devoted to our favourite beverage. From there, enjoy this coffee themed entry from the Abstract City illustrated blog.
• And finally- a big congratulations to our clients Java Republic, who have been nominated as the Most Ethical Coffee Company in Europe. They’ll be battling Starbucks and Matthew Algie on the 8th of October in Vienna. Best of luck!