04 March
A decent conversation with Huskee.
If you’re new to Huskee, it’s reusable coffee cups designed specifically for the home, café and takeaway use. Repurposed coffee husks (a byproduct of coffee production) which would otherwise end up in landfill, are one of the materials used, mixed in with plastic, to create these durable, sustainable and good-looking cups (may we say so ourselves!).
By repurposing coffee husks, it’s not only better for our environment, but also financially supports coffee farmers too. A win for the planet, our amazing coffee farmers, and a great solution for serving hot or cold drinks, for sit-in and takeaway. A feel-good drink situation, all around.
We sat down with founder, Saxon Wright, who shares his story of working with coffee farmers in Yunnan, China and the life cycle of a coffee husk, to a coffee cup!
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Can you tell us about your initial experiences working with coffee farmers in Yunnan, China, and what about those experiences inspired you to create Huskee?
Well, I’d been working with them for a few years trying to improve coffee quality and their relationship to the land. They were beautiful people with a distinct dialect, culture and way of life. However over time we wanted to look at innovative issues to solve various types of waste on the farm. We started by building a large water filtration system for the coffee farm, then for the whole village downstream. We worked on reducing fertilisers and pesticides, and then wanted to solve the mountains of waste husk that was piling up and rotting. We realised that the best way to get rid of waste is to increase its value, so we started thinking about what we could make with it. Long story short, we came up with the idea of making coffee cups as a great way to connect back to the coffee farmers.
So Huskee was born, Husk + Coffee = Huskee.
How has your partnership with coffee farmers in Yunnan impacted their operations and livelihoods and what is your relationship with them today?
We still work with the farmers on the ground today although we have relationships with a few different mills. I think this has been an incredible journey for them
and they love seeing how a byproduct like husk can be transformed into something really unique. They have a new perspective on everything they do at the farm and they now experiment and are more open-minded about everything they do. Furthermore, with operating a farm being a marginal business, any extra income is a huge blessing. Before dealing with husk was a cost, now it’s something they make money from, as we buy it from them.
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Can you tell us more about the actual process of how you turn coffee husks into your reusable coffee cups?
Coffee husks are collected immediately after processing, which is to ensure we only use clean and fresh husks. This is a challenge in itself, but important when making a food grade product. We basically bag it up immediately after it comes out of the mill to ensure it stays dry and uncontaminated. We can then store it or ship it to another mill where we grind it into a very fine powder of a specific thickness. They then blend the powder into pellets or granules with a binding agent and stabilisers before heading to the manufacturing plant that produces the actual cups. They are injection moulded under very carefully controlled time, heat and pressure settings. Our iconic fins add to the challenging nature of making them, but then they are finished and sent all around the world.
Can you share any interesting stories or experiences from your time sourcing coffee husks that shaped your vision for Huskee?
Over time Huskee has evolved to be solving many issues of waste in the coffee supply chain. Ironically, husk is now a smaller part of what we do as we have moved into other recycled plastics and stainless steel products. However what we learnt at the farm is that we shouldn’t take anything for granted, and often there is value in things that are discarded. We have seen first-hand the impact of being creative and how we can collectively solve some serious environmental issues. The farming journey has been amazing as it now serves as a reminder of the land we are trying to protect and the people that depend on it. We are all connected in so many ways and as a global community we need to become better stewards of the resources we have.
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