Folly's Zero Carbon Footprint

It has been a crazy whirlwind since we launched full of awesomeness, sprinkle in stress, and a lot of delicious coffee. The format of this post is going to be slightly different because I want to highlight something really cool I discovered recently about our roasting facility in Silver Lake, so I'm just going to give quick hits about the launch after that.

Zero Carbon Footprint?
Ken and I were having a discussion about sustainability at the Silver Lake roasting facility. I had been doing some research into businesses operating with a zero carbon footprint or even a carbon negative footprint. To sum it up sloppily, a zero carbon footprint means that your emissions and energy usage are made up by use of sustainable energy. In the discussion, I brought up how amazing it would be to get the roastery operating at a zero or negative carbon. In one of the many things that makes Roaster Ken the best he says, "We are carbon negative."

I knew the solar panels Ken installed produced electricity, and I knew he used geothermal energy to heat and cool the roasting facility, but in the tornado of preparing for the open, I had never learned the details of energy usage. In Lamen's terms, between the electricity produced by solar energy and the heating capability of the geothermal energy, the only component creating any emissions output is the gas that powers the roaster. However, the energy produced through gas power is offset by the sustainable solar and geothermal power. The geothermal energy is so efficient that it is used to heat/cool Roaster Ken's house and still has enough energy for the roastery. Ken doesn't get an electricity bill, he gets an electricity check! Now for Roaster Ken's technical description below:

"Well, there are a couple ways to look at it.  You could say that the whole roastery electric power comes from grid connected solar panels.  Or the one I like is that the solar array is a Qualified Facility for generating a peak of 22.5 kilowatts of A.C. power back to the grid.  The roaster consumes far more b.t.u. of electric power than it uses in L.P. gas.

The Geothermal Energy coupled with a water to water heat pump is used to do heating and air conditioning and uses 2 to 3 times less electrical power than electrical resistance heating. Currently it is for Ken and Ani's home heating but has enough left over capacity to be used as an even more efficient means to heat and cool the roastery.  You might also mention that any use of geothermal energy allows for more solar energy to go back to the grid.  This whole property has a minus power consumption. It is a lot more complicated than what 99 percent of the population has."

Where have we been?
We launched! Holy smokes! We are currently in 6 stores throughout the Twin Cities with another 4 partners coming on board this week. Keep up with all the locations on the website under the banner link "Where to Find Folly". We seek out partners that focus on quality first and emphasize local businesses. I have been sampling like crazy, so keep an eye out for one of your local stores. Feedback on the coffees have been positive, which is very exciting to see others sharing in our excitement of the roasts. Also, we just did an awesome collaboration with LynLake Brewery and Sssdude-nutz donuts. LynLake infused three of their beers with Folly Coffee and Sssdude-nutz made some killer donuts and we did some pop-ups yesterday. It was amazing!

Where are we now?
It feels like I'm simply managing the chaos, riding the wave, however you want to phrase it. I'm finding organization to be key to keeping everything running smoothly, especially with coffee ordering and roasting. Basically learning on the fly to be honest...

Where are we going? 
Keep an eye out today at noon for a cool announcement of a collaboration with another local roaster. Collaborations are rarely seen in coffee because it is such a competitive industry, so this is a truly unique launch. I continue to seek out partners with the same emphasis on quality, so if you know any stores, hit me up! or let them know!!

We Have (coffee) Liftoff!!

The day has finally arrived, Folly Coffee Roasters is officially here!! I don't know if it feels like it has been an eternity or an instant, but all the work we have put into the roastery has finally paid off. The launch includes three brand new coffees, the Folly Coffee House Bean, Classic Jo, and Winer. Check out www.follycoffee.com to learn more about these bags of deliciousness. I'm also excited to announce partnerships with three co-ops in the Twin Cities area. Eastside Food Co-op in Minneapolis, Hampden Park Co-op in St. Paul, and Harvest Moon Co-op in Long Lake. It doesn't even feel real to type that out. Anyway, onto the blog!

Where have we been?
It was a crazy holiday period trying to coordinate everyone involved in finishing up the roastery during Christmas and the New Year. Meanwhile, because it's Minnesota, it was insanely cold around -15 degrees which delayed our plumbing work even further due to so many plumbing emergencies in the area. As for our own plumbing, after some issues with the plumbing holding the necessary pressure, the work has been finished on our sink system. The MN Department of Labor and Industry inspected and signed off on their work. The Department of Agriculture (shoutout Mike Smith!) came back for the final inspection, signed off on the entirety of the facility, and gave us our Wholesale Food Manufacturer license, meaning we can sell coffee through third party retailers like the ones listed above. What started as leaps and bounds of progress on a daily basis led to baby steps over the last 2 months as we worked on finishing details, but the plumbing and inspections were the last final hurdles!

Where are we now?
It's now 2018 and I'm still processing that this entire project has come to an end, but with one ending comes possibly an even more hectic launch. We have brand new coffees and packages (which turned out amazingly) and can't wait to start delivering them. We still are figuring things out on the fly, but I'm confident that as long as we roast the best coffee we can and always keep the customer first, things will fall in place.

Where are we going?
The next few months are going to be full of meetings with potential partners in carrying Folly Coffee (another partner announcement coming soon). The feedback and support thus far has been incredible, and I'm beyond excited about the possibilities moving forward. Hopefully now that this massive undertaking is completed, this blog will be about more than just building! I have my first coffee sampling at Eastside Food Co-op on Saturday, January 13th from 10-1. Come by to try some Folly! There are a lot of things I'm sure I'm not even thinking about yet and definite challenges that lay ahead, but for right now I'm too dang excited to stress about those.....yet.