Guest post by Grant Williams, Founder of Viveberry.
For most people, the day doesn’t truly begin until we have our first cup. Whether instant, percolator or from the local café for a barista-made oat latte, it’s a mandatory morning ritual that keeps us sane. But now more than ever, we seem to be disconnected from where coffee comes from and the impact the coffee industry has on the environment. The good news, there is a way we can have our cake and drink our coffee too….allow me to spill the beans.
Humans have been growing and consuming coffee for thousands of years. Today, humans drink a few billion cups of coffee every day. With the mass industrialisation of coffee came a lot of wastage problems, one of which is the coffeeberry. Coffee grows as a vibrant berry, each berry containing two seeds. These seeds are cleaned, roasted to become what we know as coffee. The rest of the berry? Tossed into waste piles. 25 million tonnes of coffeeberry gets wasted every year. Naturally, this waste starts to ferment, turning into harmful mycotoxins. These piles are then lit on fire, or left to seep into the ground and waterways, massively impacting the local environments.
What’s worse is that coffeeberries are a potent superfood, full of antioxidants and polyphenols, namely chlorogenic Acid, caffeic Acid, Ferulic Acid, and Quinic Acid. Research shows these nutrients help protect the body from free radical damage, which can protect against cellular oxidative damage, protecting us against disease states and imbalances such as high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and unhealthy weight gain. Coffeeberries may also help promote fat loss, support cardiovascular health, may protect your brain from age-related diseases and support mood.
This is what inspired me to start Viveberry. I knew it was possible to create a coffee that contained both coffee bean and coffeeberry. I’m a big believer in synergy, things are the way they are for a reason, because mother nature designed them that way. If you eat a fruit as a whole, the nutrients inside complement each other, and the sum of the nutrients are greater than if you were to eat those ingredients separately. I believe consuming the coffeeberry with the coffee bean could only bring greater health for both humans and the planet. We started with Instant Vive, a delicious rich black instant coffee containing premium ingredients including coffeeberry, but we won’t stop there. Viveberry is dedicated to continually improving its business processes and minimising its impact on the environment. We hope to eventually have a full range of coffee products that contain coffeeberry.
People always say to enjoy the small things in life and for many of us, coffee is one of those small things. I want to help people enjoy these moments of bliss guilt free, knowing that what they are consuming is better for them and less f*cked for the planet.
Because when you’re feeling down coffee helps to ease it, when your feeling up coffee helps to seize it! Viveberry is here to offer you a warm hug when you down and a friend to laugh with when you’re up. Life’s short, make the most of it. ENJOY.
