European Barista Guild Camp 2016

Our European Brand Manager Henry Hoogenveen attended the European Barista Guild Camp in Pärnu, Estonia to raise awareness about the issues surrounding disposable coffee cups and provided solutions to attendees. Here is his takeaway from the inspiring event.

Growing up as a child in Europe "coffee to go" did not exist. Everyone took the time to drink coffee in a shop out of porcelain cups. Times have changed and so have behaviors. Today, people like to have the freedom to enjoy their coffee wherever they go. Waiting for the bus, driving in their car or just walking in the park. And if you go into a coffee bar now to get your coffee the first question you are asked is "Here or to go?" On other occasions, you don't even get that choice and you are forced to accept a disposable to-go cup with your beverage.

The end result of this change is that millions of disposable coffee cups end up in landfills. In Germany, 7.6 million disposable coffee cups end up in the landfill every day. In the UK, it’s 7.2 million! This is clearly a huge environmental problem and Klean Kanteen is on a mission to correct it.

With these numbers in mind, I showed up at European Barista Guild camp to represent Klean Kanteen. Every year, this impressive event attracts around 200 baristas for four days of education, idea sharing, experiential exercises and community building.

The Barista Guild of Europe (BGE) is dedicated to developing the role of the barista within Europe. Its primary goal is to foster community and professionalism among people whose incomes are derived from working with specialty-grade coffee. In addition to its primary goal, one of the strategic goals of the BGE is to make specialty coffee industry more sustainable and that is where Klean Kanteen comes in.

To help BGE further its commitment to sustainability, Klean showed up in Estonia with a solution to the disposable coffee cup problem in the form of BGE co-branded 8oz Insulated Tumblers. Every participant at the camp received one of these Tumblers. The Barista Guild was also kind enough to let us spread the word about #BringYourOwn during a mainstage presentation that encouraged participants to join the conversation about single-use products in their own communities using the #BringYourOwn hashtag.

The baristas in attendance were very enthusiastic about the solutions they were given by Klean. They appreciated how the 8oz Tumbler would allow them to serve specialty-grade coffee in a reasonably sized container and that there is an easy way for them to spread the word about the single-use coffee cup problem by using #BringYourOwn.

Instagram image credit: @SCAE_Community