We got a chance to chit chat with Joseph Jenkins, founder and executive director of Sustain Coffee. They’re on a mission to make high-quality coffee accessible, inclusive, and sustainable for everyone. Here’s how our convo went:
Could you introduce yourself and share what inspired you to establish 901 Sustain Coffee in Memphis?
My name is Joseph Jenkins! The founder and executive director for a nonprofit called Sustain Coffee. I operate the business with Dante Baker (secretary, lead barista).
Sustain Coffee exists to promote higher quality coffee by educating on better brewing practices, advocating for sustainability practices within the coffee supply chain, and providing resources to the community that serves those purposes.
I started Sustain my freshman year of college as a class project. I began teaching coffee classes out of my parent’s kitchen. What was at first a couple of classmates grew into dozens of attendees. Eventually my mom told me, “you gotta find somewhere else to go”, so we started branching out and doing classes satellite-based.
Over the years we have hosted at a variety of locations, and really always welcome anyone who has the space to host us. What inspired all of this was seeing a need to make specialty coffee more accessible and really focus on meeting people where they are.
We always emphasize that we are coffee enthusiasts, not snobs, and want people from every point of their coffee journey to feel welcomed—meaning a newcomer to the industry or a veteran barista with decades of experience should feel mutually welcomed in our community.
Education is a cornerstone of your mission. What motivated you to focus on educating the community about coffee, and what impact have you observed so far?
Education was and continues to be our primary focus. The reason for this focus is because we desire everyone to have equal access to information and be empowered by that.
A core component of our mission statement is “education by diligence” meaning that education requires dedication and long-term commitment.
No one is born an expert, and having educators to lead the way is key in any industry, and we just have happened to choose coffee to express this. The impact we have seen has been inspiring to say the least! We have seen people foster a new passion that has grown from the seeds we have planted.
There have been countless people who have stepped into full-time coffee careers because of our workshops and support systems. I still have people come up to me years after attending a class and express how grateful they are for the knowledge gained.
Sustainability is integral to your operations. How do you incorporate sustainable practices within the coffee supply chain, and what challenges have you faced in promoting these practices?
Sustainability is one of those things that has become a numbing buzzword that is used in nearly every industry. This heavily marketed term could be considered: over-used, hollow, and trivial.
Despite the reputation, it was hard to part with the simplicity of the word. When we decided to go forward with the name Sustain, it had several meanings to us. One of those things is the idea of diligence. We believe in order to uphold a community of people who are chasing a central passion requires a conscious effort on everyone’s part. It also requires accountability, continuous learning, and a LOT of humility.
As we have quite a few musicians on the team, another inspiring component was how the first three letters make us think of a suspended chord on a piano (think: SUS chord). Replacing a singular note in a chord introduces color and creates an open sound.
In the same way, our view on coffee is similar. We aim for our practices to positively impact all who are involved, and yes, be sustainable.
Sustain is more than a buzzword – it’s coffee for everyone. All of that to say, how do we actually engage in sustainable practices? To quickly summarize:
(a) restricting our usage of disposable paper products (we try to only use glassware at events, pop ups, and workshops instead of paper cups and the like),
(b) all of our merch is printed on second-hand garments, reducing our footprint and contribution to fast fashion,
(c) partnering with roasters and coffee importers who focus on transparency and equitable practices where applicable.
Being sustainable in every single area is truthfully an impossible task some days. We have learned that what matters is not achieving perfection, but striving to do all we can to control the dials we have power over.
Your organization offers various workshops and a podcast. Could you elaborate on these initiatives and how they contribute to fostering a more informed coffee culture in Memphis?
We have workshops, pop-up events and a ton of online resources. During COVID we started our podcast, titled CART (Coffee And Related Topics). There is a treasure trove of backlogged episodes to catch up on.
In addition to this, we have a YouTube channel for those visual learners out there. We also have a Patreon for exclusive content for those who are looking to support us financially.
We like to offer as many free resources as possible, but do offer both public and private paid sessions for those who are interested. All of this has created a great entry point and element of community for those who are interested in or already engaged in the coffee industry here in the city and beyond.
Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for 901 Sustain Coffee, and how do you envision its role in the Memphis community evolving?
Looking forward to Sustain Coffee, we hope to continue engaging in community outreach and education. We often have people ask if we are ever going to open a cafe, which we always laughingly say “nah!”, but we do have other plans.
This is where the Sustain Coffee Mobile Classroom Fundraiser comes in. Not your typical coffee truck by any means, this will be a classroom on wheels. We’re looking to think differently about how we run a coffee truck. Of course, we’ll be popping up all over to serve coffee, but more so, we are looking to create a space for on-the-go community outreach and education.
We are looking to raise $10k to fund the beginning of this project! Apart from the GoFundMe, we will be hosting special events over the next few months to support this goal. We are excited to see this vision come true and continue to evolve as a brand.
