USA: Organic Coffee on college campuses

Organic coffee is more available than ever on college campuses these days, according to the Organic Coffee Collaboration, a project of OTA. For example, Caffe Ibis has seen sales of its  coffees increase dramatically over last year at two universities in Utah. Equator Estate Coffees & Teas is expanding into college food services nationwide by providing organic coffee to Feel Good World, a student-run social venture to raise money and consciousness about world hunger and sustainability at campuses across the country. Working hand-in-hand with the organization, Equator is developing a coffee service program at ten college locations.
 

Selling its Fair Trade organic coffee to over 175 colleges and universities nationwide, Green Mountain Coffee has seen these sales triple over the past two years. Through several brand initiatives, S&D Coffee currently supplies organic, Fair Trade, and Rain Forest Alliance certified coffees to over 400 colleges and universities. Decaffeinated coffee is also popular among college students and administrators, according to OTA. A new company using carbon dioxide for the decaffeination process, Maximus Coffee Group, just got certified to the federal organic standards, and its products will hit the college market soon.

The North American organic coffee market reached 1.3 billion $ in 2008, according to Daniele Giovannucci, author of the recent North American Organic Coffee Industry Survey 2009. The amount of organic coffee imported into the United States and Canada increased 12 % during 2008, rising from approximately 81 million pounds to approximately 89 million pounds with most of the sales taking place in the United States. The 29 % annual average growth rate for the organic category documented by Giovannucci between 2000 and 2008 dwarfs the estimated 1.5 % projected annual growth rate of the conventional coffee industry. The survey is available from the Organic Trade Association.

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