Novack switches to Pierce Brothers coffee
Following in the footsteps of Collis Café, Novack Café recently switched its coffee selection from Green Mountain coffeetoPierce Brothers coffee. With the transition, Novack also began serving espressos and iced cappuccinos.
Why the change? We sat down with Novack student manager Heidi Meyers ’14 for the inside scoop.
“It’s more sustainable, it’s fair trade and it’s just a higher quality of coffee,” Meyers said.
Although Green Mountain is one of the world’s largest purchasers of fair trade coffee, or coffee that is certified as having been produced and marketed to a stated set of standards, not all the company’s coffee is fair trade. Green Mountain is also a much bigger operation than Pierce Brothers, and Meyers said that Novack hopes to support a smaller business model, even though Green Mountain of Waterbury, Vt., is more local than Pierce Brothers of Greenfield, Mass.
Quality and freshness also influenced the recent change. Pierce Brothers roasts and grinds its coffee the same day that it is delivered, ensuring maximum freshness. The company also uses an air-roasting technique, which limits the burning of coffee beans and reduces the bitterness of the coffee. Over the past two weeks, Novack has served a variety of flavors, including hazelnut and chocolate, to gauge student opinion.
Judy Li ‘15 said she preferred the Pierce Brothers coffee to Green Mountain.
“It tasted like acid before,” Li said.
The change also consolidated the different coffee options at Novack, since Pierce Brothers is now the sole coffee provider to the café. The new espresso machine is much faster than the old one, requiring only the push of a button to serve cappuccinos, lattes and Americanos.
Students said they particularly liked the iced cappuccino.
“I’m not normally a coffee-drinker, but I like this,” Taylor Enoch-Stevens ’15 said.
The new iced iced cappuccino and espresso machines also come at a cost, since there is no longer enough counter space to accommodate the chai and hot chocolate machines, a change that disappointed many students.
Enoch-Stevens said she would rather drink hot chocolate than coffee as a source of caffeine.
While the new changes to Novack might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s safe to say there is no shortage of beverages in the library to quench our heat-induced thirst this summer.