Enthusiasts with an encouraging method of teaching.
What is Sustain?
Sustain coffee is a non-profit that exists to promote higher quality coffee by educating on better brewing practices, advocating for sustainability practices within the coffee supply chain, and providing resources to the community that serves those purposes.
Why the name Sustain?
Sustainability has become a numbing buzzword that is used in nearly every industry. This heavily marketed term could be considered: over-used, hollow, and trivial. Despite the reputation, it was hard to part with the simplicity of the word. When we decided to go forward with the name Sustain, it had several meanings to us. One of those things is the idea of diligence. We believe in order to uphold a community of people who are chasing a central passion requires a conscious effort on everyone's part. It also requires accountability, continuous learning, and a LOT of humility. As we have quite a few musicians on the team, another inspiring component was how the first three letters make us think of a suspended chord on a piano (think: SUS chord). Replacing a singular note in a chord introduces color and creates an open sound. In the same way, our view on coffee is similar. We aim for our practices to positively impact all who are involved, and yes, be sustainable.
Sustain is more than a buzzword - it’s coffee for everyone.
Wait… where are you located? Are you a cafe?
We are based out of Memphis, TN. While not a cafe of our own, we have a private classroom space that is used to host workshops and hold the occasional pop-up.
We largely operate via satellite locations, setting up wherever there is a place and a need.
What do you do?
We teach coffee in any way we can! Be that on our podcast, through our beloved coffee classes (both private and public sessions), answering questions as they arise, publishing brew guides, and just about any other way one could think of.
Here are other more specifics of what we do:
Providing individuals with a welcoming coffee education environment
Providing ongoing coffee education resources
Giving access to the equipment and tools necessary for various training sessions
Instilling a passion for the coffee industry and the individuals involved, to focus on educating the public on sustainable supply chain practices within the coffee industry
Engaging in the promotion and participation of community coffee events
Hosting events focused on meaningful engagement within the coffee industry
Seeking out the most sustainable supply chains to partner with
Promoting waste reduction through education and practical solutions
What makes you so caught up with education? Why does teaching people about coffee even matter?
Firstly - we are fixated on education because we firmly believe this: in order to adequately appreciate something, there must be a level of understanding that comes through education.
Secondly - when first deciding that coffee would be the industry for us, we noticed that there was a lack of understanding of coffee. This absence of knowledge seemed to stem from a lack of education, and the educational resources we did see were not exactly benevolent in nature. This led us to realize that many in our community were reluctant to ask questions about coffee because they were either intimated or fearful of looking foolish. We realize that coffee can be incredibly intimidating, and we don’t think it should have to be that way.
Lastly - sharing knowledge is something that we are passionate about. We often recollect our own coffee journey, and how exciting it can be to learn a new skill - and our aim is to instill that same zeal into those we teach.
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Joseph Jenkins
Executive Director, Lead Educator
