A new product from an unexpected source has my curiosity standing on end… Who would have thought that a coffee company would have such breadth of vision to recognise a collateral opportunity such as marketing Coffee Blossom Honey?
Bees just love coffee blossoms!
It comes naturally to Nespresso. The company has been been following its AAA Sustainable Quality Program in Colombia for almost 20 years. And it’s been making continual strides toward it’s 2-pronged goal of bolstering product quality, optimizing productivity and ensuring sustainability.
Pathway to the future
“Quality cannot be assured and maintained without the socio-economic and environmental sus-tainability of farming communities,” the program website asserts.
Nespresso bestows front-line responsibility on its ‘partner’ coffee growers. The farmers are ‘sup-ported and guided’ by a small army of more than 600 Nespresso agronomists using the proprietary TASQ (Tool for the Assessment of Sustainable Quality) operating protocol.
Growers can apply for certification of their farms via the Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade International and Fairtrade USA certifications.
To date, the AAA program has enrolled more than 157,000 farmers in 18 countries.
Collateral benefits…
The close relationship between AAA program agronomists and coffee farmers is also producing col-lateral benefits. One of which is the new Nespresso product we mentioned earlier.
Coffee farmers use bees to pollinate their crops. And those bees bring back coffee blossom nectar to their hives. Now, Nespresso is harvesting the Coffee Blossom Honey and making it available to us.
In fact, the company is offering both pure Nespresso Blossom Honey and a special coffee blossom honey syrup. Both are touted as great ways to sweeten your Nespresso coffee. And you’ll doubtless find a whole host of other uses for the products, to celebrate their distinctive floral, caramel and vanilla notes.
How do you get it?
Simple. Just visit the separate Coffee Blossom Honey store. There are currently two varieties of the product, from distinct regions of Colombia, along with Coffee Blossom Honey-flavoured coffee ‘stir stix’. You can get a 12 oz. jar for (US)$19. Or a 5 US gal. bucket for (US)$399.00. Or even grab an official logo t-shirt…
My take
What a great idea! And to think, it’s been right in front of coffee producers’ noses – literally – for a hundred years! But the greater message is, projects championing sustainability, quality and product-ivity are capable of generating benefits far beyond the core goals. Let Nespresso’s experience be a lesson to others in the coffee industry. Not to mention cocoa growers!
I’m anxious to try Coffee Blossom Honey for myself…
~ Maggie J.