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Coffee

We purchase our certified fair-trade and organic coffee and espresso beans from Pura Vida. Operated for charitable benefit, Pura Vida aims to help farmers and their families, and to empower the poor in coffee growing regions throughout the world. The farmers they work with grow Arabica beans in South America and Africa following sustainable practices. They use no pesticides, and cultivate coffee trees in the understory of diverse canopy forests—a practice known as shade growing—rather than as vast monocultures than can damage soil and reduce biodiversity. The farmers handpick their beans, which are then slow roasted in small batches to bring out their full flavor. Once the Thain Family Café has used the ground beans to make your coffee, we compost the grounds at the Yale Farm. There they will soon be used to grown mushrooms.

 

Milk

At the Thain Family Café we serve certified organic milk produced by Organic Valley. A farmer-owned cooperative of 1170 farm families across the country, Organic Valley supports rural communities and economic and environmental sustainability. Their farmers raise their cows without the use of hormones or antibiotics, and most put their cows out to graze. Well-raised and well-fed cows produce good milk, and Organic Valley milk is certainly good-tasting. It is also good for you: studies show that organic milk has 50% more vitamin E and higher levels of omega-3s than conventional milk.

 

Mercado Global

When you order in at the Thain Family Café we serve you in fair-trade ceramic mugs purchased through Mercado Global. Founded by two Yale alumnae in 2004, this non-profit works with women’s cooperatives across the world to help them find U.S. markets for their handmade products. Yalies Ruth DeGolia and Benita Singh started Mercado Global after spending nine months while students working with rural women’s cooperatives in Guatemala. Their project took off quickly: within its first year the sales made via Mercado Global provided fair wages to 178 cooperative members and put 100 of their children through primary school for one year. Mercado Global has continued to grow ever since its early success. But even as it expands, the project remains rooted where it began: here in New Haven.

 

Kettle Corn

Kettle corn is popcorn popped in a huge stainless steel pot with sugar and hot oil, then sprinkled generously with salt. The kettle corn we serve at the Thain Family Café is made by hand with organic popcorn by Newton and Patricia Carroll of West Haven. Since June of 2004, the couple has been making and selling kettle corn from their cart outside of Yale-New Haven hospital and at festivals and events around New Haven. This year, they begin their first large-scale enterprise by selling to the Library Café. Every morning, Newton Carroll wakes up early to pop, bag, and deliver kettle corn fresh to the Café. For the Carrolls, selling to Yale may be the first step towards putting their kettle corn on the shelves of local shops. For Yalies, it may well mark a revolution in snack food.