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Permalink Reply by Jorge A. Cazares on June 5, 2009 at 10:27am

organics will definitely be more expensive. there are a couple of things you have to consider when considering switching to organic ingredients:

1) foods that are organic aren't always better in quality or consistency. it is a common misconception that organic foods are better or superior in quality. the focus of MOST (but not all) companies that deal in organic foods is to provide a product free or almost free of chemicals and artificial substances, which means less control over how their product is affected by pests, weather, etc... the upside is that they are better on the environment and your body (by not pumping chemicals into your system).... usually... which brings us to:

2) not all "organic" labeled foods are actually organic. do some research before deciding on a product. unfortunately getting "green" or "organic" or "all-natural" things has become a trend, and companies are very aware of it. people are willing to pay more for something with that label so they take advantage. there are different certification programs, or levels of certification, all of which have different standards on what is technically "organic". an example would be: a farmer has 2 fields of strawberries, both are right beside each other. the regular one is on the south, and the "organic" one on the north. the farmer waits for a strong wind to come from the south, at which point he dusts the south field with all kinds of pesticides. the wind carries the chemicals northward over the "organic" field. the farmer can technically say that he never dusted the north field, and if he is a participant in a certification program which is more lenient, the "small" amount of chemicals which made it to the north field wouldn't be enough to void the "organic" certification. he then sells those strawberries at a higher price because he can... screwing you over.

so all that to say: do some research, decide which products you want to represent your shop, decide if using those products falls in line with the overall views of your shop, and lastly know that it will cost more. i'm a fan of using organic products... which are truly organic, and if you educate your customers on it, they will appreciate it.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn E Donson on June 8, 2009 at 10:24am

Thanks Jorge for the tips especially with the certification of organics...I figured it would definitely be more on the expensive side.

Jorge A. Cazares said:

organics will definitely be more expensive. there are a couple of things you have to consider when considering switching to organic ingredients:

1) foods that are organic aren't always better in quality or consistency. it is a common misconception that organic foods are better or superior in quality. the focus of MOST (but not all) companies that deal in organic foods is to provide a product free or almost free of chemicals and artificial substances, which means less control over how their product is affected by pests, weather, etc... the upside is that they are better on the environment and your body (by not pumping chemicals into your system).... usually... which brings us to:

2) not all "organic" labeled foods are actually organic. do some research before deciding on a product. unfortunately getting "green" or "organic" or "all-natural" things has become a trend, and companies are very aware of it. people are willing to pay more for something with that label so they take advantage. there are different certification programs, or levels of certification, all of which have different standards on what is technically "organic". an example would be: a farmer has 2 fields of strawberries, both are right beside each other. the regular one is on the south, and the "organic" one on the north. the farmer waits for a strong wind to come from the south, at which point he dusts the south field with all kinds of pesticides. the wind carries the chemicals northward over the "organic" field. the farmer can technically say that he never dusted the north field, and if he is a participant in a certification program which is more lenient, the "small" amount of chemicals which made it to the north field wouldn't be enough to void the "organic" certification. he then sells those strawberries at a higher price because he can... screwing you over.

so all that to say: do some research, decide which products you want to represent your shop, decide if using those products falls in line with the overall views of your shop, and lastly know that it will cost more. i'm a fan of using organic products... which are truly organic, and if you educate your customers on it, they will appreciate it.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on June 8, 2009 at 12:25pm

Hey Dawn,

We use organic syrup and Local milk in or shops. The milk is hormone free and organically farmed, but it is not certified organic. I am a true advocate for supporting local farms and business, this also makes the research that Jorge suggested a little easier/more fun because you can go and visit the farms too see if you want to do business with them.

That being said, if your customer base doesn't want to pay more for there drinks, don't ask them to pay more. You will pay more for most organic offerings and will therefore need to raise prices. We can get away with this because we are in a town with an Ivy League University and another college along with a very liberal public. Organic is not for everywhere.

Oh..can I get your shops address of your website? I want to ship the coffee for your Toddy Experiment but I'm not sure where to ship it.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on June 8, 2009 at 7:20pm

the organic syrup thing is easy, i don't think it's that hard to make it yourself (at least with vanilla). just buy a pound of organic vanilla beans, split 4-5, and boil them in organic sugar water for half an hour.

the organic milk thing is something i'm struggling with at the moment cause there are no local dairies around to buy from. i wish i could find a good local organic dairy, but there seem to be zero resources for locating them on the web or anywhere else

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Ervin-Ward on June 8, 2009 at 11:42pm

We use high quality organic, unhomogonized milks, not specifically because they are organic, but they lighter in taste allowing the coffee to shine without janky cheap milk overtones. If you are an Australian cafe grab a carton of Parmalat Organic -- both full cream and low fat -- and give it a go. Cafe supply price ($2 per litre) is about twice the price of a cheap generic ($1 per litre), but totally worth it.

Jorge makes a good point... Organic does not always mean quality...

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Permalink Reply by The Barista Formerly Known As JavaJ on June 9, 2009 at 12:15am

Here in Cali, especially here in San Fran, it is VERY common to find organic milk. In fact even the busier Starbucks locations stock Organic milk.

Quality levels vary, but almost all shops charge extra. Notable exceptions are Ritual and 4 Barrel, who use Clover Organic but price it in to all their drinks.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on June 9, 2009 at 6:54am

have you priced that? Vanilla beans are at least $50/# that plus labor might make buying the syrups worth it.

Jared Rutledge said:

the organic syrup thing is easy, i don't think it's that hard to make it yourself (at least with vanilla). just buy a pound of organic vanilla beans, split 4-5, and boil them in organic sugar water for half an hour.
the organic milk thing is something i'm struggling with at the moment cause there are no local dairies around to buy from. i wish i could find a good local organic dairy, but there seem to be zero resources for locating them on the web or anywhere else

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