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Small Batch, Specialty Coffee Roaster

About

about us

For a love of the Land

Ola Verde Café is a specialty coffee roaster based in Wicker Park, Chicago. In 2021, our founder, Brian, left a corporate career and traveled towards the coffee growing regions of Central & South America. Driven by a passion for the environment, coffee, and Latin American culture, he set out with two main goals: to learn about coffee cultivation, and to establish relationships with farmers. Brian returned to Chicago with a strong inspiration to share their coffees and unique stories with the rest of the world. Not only do they produce great coffee, but they are responsible stewards of the land. We only source from farms that have demonstrated a love of the land and promotion of biodiversity!
JERICO, COLOMBIA
our 3 priorities

Learn about the incredible challenge of coffee cultivation

Coffee is grown in some of the most beautiful and biodiverse landscapes in the world. A single coffee farm can feature many different micro-climates that must be carefully managed. Coffee farmers inherit massive amounts of risk in an ever-changing and warming global climate. New and unpredictable weather patterns can have a huge impact on a farmer’s harvest. Coffee trees face a high risk of diseases like Hemileia vastatrix (better known as coffee leaf rust). Other tasks include researching new coffee tree varieties, planting and rotating trees, hand-picking cherries, water management, fermentation, drying, milling, packaging, and selling! Each step in the process can greatly alter the final product. Ola Verde Café wants to tell that story to the consumer, while better understanding and promoting ways that we can help and improve the coffee supply chain in the future.

Reduce Waste

We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Ola Verde Café utilizes an electric roaster, in favor of the traditional gas powered roaster. All of our packaging is made out of 100% compostable materials. Our packaging for shipping is entirely repurposed from Chicago non-profit EcoShip. We’re actively involved in Plant Chicago‘s Circular Economy Leadership Network, with a goal of offering package free sales by the end of 2022. We’re currently in the R&D phase with a new technology that will repurpose coffee grounds as a source of heat (@project.capriole). More on this to come in the second half of 2022!

Inspire Environmental Action

As an environmentally focused company, we believe it’s our responsibility to inspire and lead action around the Chicago community. Our founder, Brian, is a trained environmental leader through the Chicago Conservation Corps program. Brian actively volunteers with the Shedd Aquarium and leads clean-ups with the Friends of the Chicago River Organization. Ola Verde Café will happily sponsor or get involved with any local groups looking to clean up the city, and we’ll be there with some great tasting coffee!

Chicago River Day 2022