food&drink
Coffee with a conscience: how Citizen Coffee is creating
positive social change in Wales This Cardiff-based coffee van partners with local non-profits to offer barista training to refugees and asylum seekers – all while serving refreshing cold brews, tasty baked goods, and delicious speciality coffee with a smile.
Nestled beneath trees and twinkling fairy lights, Citizen Coffee (open Monday-Thursday) runs from a converted, mint green horsebox in an old church courtyard on Woodville Road, Cathays. What was once a hidden, overgrown garden is now a warm and welcoming oasis where locals can pop by for their daily caffeine fix and a friendly chat. “After investing time and care in renovating the space, it’s become a real social hub for nearby business owners, residents and students,” says manager Dan Pledger.
Customers can look forward to summer brews including sweet iced teas and iced chocolates, as well as butterscotch and gingerbread lattes come autumn. The speciality coffee from Sao Paulo has a bright acidity with hints of chocolate and walnut, but the real appeal goes far beyond the coffee cart menu. What sets Citizen Coffee apart is its commitment to creating a positive social impact.
“The single origin espresso is provided by Manumit, a roastery in Cardiff specialising in ethically sourced coffee,” explains Dan. This means it’s slavery-free from crop to cup. He adds, “The coffee is roasted by survivors of modern-day slavery and the profits go towards local and global anti-slavery initiatives.
“When we first launched the van,” he continues, “we connected with Hope Espresso, a coffee consulting agency providing training and professional development. Next, we partnered with local non-profit, Oasis, a charity helping refugees and asylum seekers in Cardiff.” Through this partnership, Citizen Coffee offers work experience to refugees and asylum seekers – training them as baristas while giving them a place to develop their professional skills in a time when they’re unable to get paid work.
“Coffee training has been brilliant and really useful. I’m learning to make something I enjoy,
The life-saving Cardiff coffee shop
The good folks at Cardiff’s Bigmoose Coffee Co. founded the non-profit on the mantra of inspiring people to live “better, healthier, kinder lives”. As such, all of their money is reinvested into community projects, from feeding
to enabling disabled children to participate in sporting events. Now, they’re embarking on their most ambitious act of kindness yet: Project 1 Million, aiming to raise £1 million for early intervention mental health services to help prevent suicide.
those experiencing homelessness
The idea came to them during the first year of the pandemic. “During lockdown 2020 we were discussing the future of bigmoose and
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and it will help me with future jobs,” says B, one of the six refugees who have volunteered at the coffee van. After having their initial training at Citizen Coffee, a barista certification is then organised with Hope Espresso, where they can attain an internationally recognised qualification.
Looking to the future, Citizen Coffee plan to open similar spaces around the country, starting with Senghenydd and Pontypridd. Wherever the coffee shop may be, the goal, however, remains the same – to care for people and the planet, and to make a positive difference along the way.
Info:
citizenchurch.org.uk/citizen-coffee / @citizencoffeeuk on Instagram
ELLE REDMAN
how we wanted to impact the world. During this time we were providing therapy for lots of people and had been told by five people that without our intervention, they would have ended their lives.” Overall, 5,224 people in England and Wales ended their own lives that year. On top of that, according to Mind, half of young people in the UK experienced “lockdown loneliness”, while the National Statistics Office recorded depression in adults doubling by June 2020. Both alarmed and inspired by this, Project 1 Million aims to reach its target goal this year through individual donations and group fundraising. At the time of writing, they’re at around £64,000, which is a little off of 10% of the way there; clearly, they’re going to need all the generosity they can get to achieve the other 90%.
If you’d like to take part, get in touch with them at:
chloe@bigmoose.co
Info:
bigmoosecharity.co/project-1- million
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