It’s Time to Smell Kosher Coffee

Detroit (www.koshertoday.com/ Alan Gale)

The Web site for the two-store operation of Coffee with a Conscience in Milwaukee, Wis., describes the company as having a social, environmental and global conscience. In the same sentence where the organization describes its coffee as certified organic, fair-trade and shade-grown, Coffee with a Conscience also points out that its product is kosher.

Recognizing that coffee is inherently kosher, Donald Schoenholt, president of Gillies Coffee Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y., says two developments in the 20th century muddied the brew, concerning kosher coffee. They are decaffeination and flavoring. Both processes add something to the beans, which can bring their kosher status into question, particularly around Passover. Kosher is another identification that will help you single out your product as being a cut above," says Schoenholt, who was drinking a cup of Sumatra, hand-picked in the Lingtong district by a company called Kuda Mas, while being interviewed. "It's the fanciest damn Sumatra you've ever consumed."

Gillies sell nearly $5 million worth of kosher coffee beans each year to coffeehouses, restaurants, caterers and hotels all over the United States. Schoenholt believes retailers are not taking advantage of the marketing potential of selling a kosher brand.

One main reason more coffeehouses are selling kosher coffee today is that their customers are asking for it, according to Henry Stein, senior director of business development for the Caribou Coffee Company, which is based in Minneapolis, Minn. The president of this 12-year-old, privately held chain of 260 stores in 12 states (the second largest non-franchised coffee company in the U.S. after Starbucks) discovered that it was one of the few national companies without a kosher mark on its bagged beans and ground coffee. That, combined with the clamor from its customers, led Caribou to change its ways. As of July 3, 2004 bagged Caribou Coffee is certified kosher.