Words by Sheila Chau
Non-Fiction Coffee is a company that strives to put intentionality and transparency into the coffee industry. Starting with their name, Non-Fiction Coffee shows that they are a company you can trust.
“Traceability and intentionality put a name and a face to the people and community. Our desire is that this would counter the hustle and bustle of someone’s day and cause a thoughtful and intentional moment when they’re enjoying their coffee,” says Jeff Daniels, the Director of Sales.
The message of Non-Fiction Coffee is storytelling. Other coffee companies may tell consumers the origin country of the coffee, but Non-Fiction Coffee goes above and beyond that. They have made Origin Stories cans—they spotlight the coffee grower’s name on the front of the can, where they have made the name of the coffee grower bigger than their own. As you interact with the can, you learn not only the name of the farmer and farm that grew the coffee, but also the country, and even the region/sub-region of the country it was grown. The journey does not stop there. There is a farmer-specific URL on the can that will tell you even more information about each coffee producer. This is important to have because many other coffee companies are not even half as transparent about where your coffee is coming from. “Great coffee can’t exist without the incredible, unseen labor of coffee farmers all around the world,” Daniels says.
Intentionality doesn’t stop at origins for Non-Fiction Coffee. They’ve added another level through their partnership with Blue Spring Living Water, a local Birmingham water source. The Specialty Coffee Association recommends brewing coffee with a water that has a pH level somewhere in the range of 7-7.5. Blue Spring Living Water has a pH of 7.1, which is perfect for the brewing process—making Non-Fiction Coffee all the more delicious.
Non-Fiction Coffee rejects the basic message that coffee is simply fuel for the day. “Coffee is so much more than a beverage. It’s people. It’s lives. It’s communities. It’s cultures,” says Daniels.
Productivity culture makes coffee seem like a simple beverage that is used to help someone get through the work week, but coffee can be so much more than that. With how much it is a part of daily life for so many, it should be treated with more thoughtfulness—which is what Non-Fiction Coffee is doing. By putting more thought into the coffee industry, Non-Fiction Coffee hopes to change the association coffee has with caffeine and to shine a light on the hard work put into the drink. “Coffee can be approached with the same of refinement wine is,” said Daniels.
With their new Origin Stories can, Non-Fiction Coffee is making monumental steps in adding more deliberateness in the coffee industry. The company asks consumers to ask themselves where their coffee is coming from—because in the end it is the people who have made coffee possible.
