Coffee with a purpose - meaningful encounters: coffee started to spread in Europe through coffee houses. These were melting pots where people met, exchanged, discussed ideas and experiences and learnt from each other. Hence, coffee is bringing people together. That is what I love most about coffee.
Every morning I pass a tiny little café on my way to the office called “home.one” by For Change Co.. As I have seven coffee machines available in my own lab, I usually do not order coffees on my way to work. Yet, I like the positive vibes and the look of this particular café. The baristas kept greeting me very friendly. Therefore, I decided to change my routine and stopped this week to order a flat white.
While waiting for my coffee, I spotted a QR code on a board and started to read the story about this place and the people involved in the underlying project:
“home.one is a flagship social enterprise that exist with the mission of eliminating youth homelessness in Melbourne: it is a micro café nestled into a bustling corner of Brunswick that serves coffee all day alongside artisanal porridge, delicious toasties and homemade treats. In addition to its core impact activities, home.one is hugely innovative in its consideration of the environment – the café uses 100% renewable energy, is totally vegetarian, and has a composting partnership for its coffee grounds.”
In their impact report you can read more about their five pillars of sustainable change: a) housing, b) employment, c) education, d) confidence, and e) community.
I very much enjoyed my flat white: the milk was well textured to the right temperature and the coffee from Five Senses Coffee [Dark Hourse blend] cut very well through the milk. It was a great harmony between the coffee and the milk.
I am very happy to see that specialty coffee is also about taking care of each other and our community in general.
Thank you for the delicious flat white, the positive vibes, and the friendly “good morning” every time I pass.
Should you be around Brunswick, please go and have a look, it is a lovely place, with very nice people (both the baristas as well as the customers). It is absolutely worth it.
