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Coffee Facts and Figures: From Grower To Your Cup
March 11, 2010

Coffee roasters Jeff Ericson (standing) and Dan Ericson on the lift truck move pallets of organic, raw coffee beans to the company’s temperature-controlled storage area to deliver the freshest-quality coffees from across the world.

(NAPS)—Here’s an eye-opening look at how your morning java made its way from the coffee beans growing around the globe to your cup.

One company, Camano Island Coffee Roasters, offers insight into the process.

Once the beans arrive at the company’s headquarters, the hundreds of bags of raw beans are moved to the temperature-controlled storage area. The company uses Earth-friendly Toyota forklifts to unload truckloads of 25,000 pounds of raw coffee beans.

Green coffee beans are moved daily from the holding area to the roasting facility. After roasting, the fresh coffee is sent to the packaging division. There, the company makes sure each order is picked, packed and ready for the shipping group. The shipping group then organizes the day’s shipments by carrier and sends the fresh coffee on its way. The entire process is completed while the coffee is still warm from roasting. Most of the coffee is sold online and direct to thousands of homes across America through its Coffee Lover’s Club.

To avoid an interruption to the supply chain, it is essential that the equipment used to handle the pallets of fresh organic beans run at top performance. True to the company’s mantra of social responsibility, Camano Island Coffee Roasters ensures that its suppliers offer products that are environmentally friendly—such as Toyota’s clean-running forklifts.

“We pride ourselves on the freshness of our coffee, which means it is imperative our forklifts run smoothly to ship coffee daily,” said Jeff Ericson. “That’s why we choose to buy Toyota forklifts for their reliability and environmentally conscious product.

“We commit to only carrying shade-grown, organic, fairly traded [fair trade] coffees,” said Jeff Ericson. “We roast only the best-quality coffees from Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Sumatra, Peru and Honduras. We also carry seasonal varieties from Uganda, Kenya, Mexico, Bolivia, Hawaii [Kona, Molokai, Kauai] and many more depending on crop and availability.”

So the next time you drink a jolt of java, you can appreciate the careful material-handling process that ensures your coffee beans are kept fresh and flavorful.

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