The Importance of Certified Organics

Nick Cowper NZ Country Manager,

Established in 1990 as Garden City Coffee, then rebranded to Hummingbird

Coffee in 2000, Country Manager for New Zealand, Nick Cowper, shared that Hummingbird has become more than a brand.

“It was a way of doing business. That is why my family and I started roasting coffee in 2000,” Cowper said.

Cowper explained that for over 30 years, Hummingbird had been built on the principles of people committed to being involved through every step of the process, from crop to cup. This commitment has allowed the brand to cultivate relationships based on trust, sourcing beans from farmers

Hummingbird knows and supporting the communities of growers.

Known as a specialty coffee brand, Hummingbird is committed to delivering high-quality, distinctive coffees crafted to impact the communities the brand has relationships with positively.

In 2004, Hummingbird became an early champion of fair trade in New Zealand, being one of the first in partnership with Trade Aid to directly import fair trade, organic, and green coffee beans.

Hummingbird maintains relationships with coffee growers and pays a premium for fair trade organic coffee beans.

Since 2005, Hummingbird has donated over 10 million dollars in premiums to tens of thousands of growers and their respective families in 10 countries, reflecting the company’s ethos of sustainable coffee sourcing.

“The entire Hummingbird coffee range is 100 percent organic certified through our certification partner, AsureQuality. It is important to Hummingbird to work with farmers that grow coffee in a way that makes the land they cultivate healthier, safer, and the coffee they produce is higher quality.”

The brand’s certification through AsureQuality has ensured that Hummingbird follows a stringent process to prevent non-organic chemicals from entering the source and production cycle of the brand’s product at any point.

Cowper described that before COVID-19, consumer behaviour had shifted towards buying organic and cleanlabel products, with consumer awareness around health and well-being incrementally growing, which was accelerated due to the pandemic.

Consumers are motivated to consume healthier products, including consideration and purchasing choices driven by how products are sourced and produced. This has prompted the demand for organic and clean-label products.

For the future of organic products, Cowper explained that the stabilisation of the economy following the pandemic, and the increase of consumer education around organic products, will result in significant growth for the category as the health and environmental benefits of such products become more commonly understood.

Furthermore, Cowper predicts that more companies will move their entire range of products to 100 percent organic, rather than having only one or two organic certified products, making these practices standard rather than a specialty.

Hummingbird’s process for manufacturing is underpinned by a depth of understanding that coffee beans from different countries represent different characteristics that should be accounted for when roasted.

“We roast all our single-origin green coffee individually to get the unique flavours and characteristics of each origin.”

After the beans have been roasted, they are blended to create some of the brand’s most iconic coffee blends, including Oomph!, Nectar, and Crave.

Each coffee blend is packed within hours of roasting to ensure freshness.

In conjunction with the organic certified and fair trade sourcing of its coffee beans, Hummingbird ensures sustainability and efficiency by investing in relationships with farmers who consciously care for the land crops are grown on. Secondly, Hummingbird invests in its equipment to keep its roasting operations up-todate and efficient. Thirdly, each product is directly delivered to stores and cafes to reduce freight time.

Finally, Hummingbird’s products are packaged in recyclable soft plastics to reduce waste going to landfills and environmental impacts, as the brand participates in New Zealand’s soft plastics recycling scheme. Customers can take their Hummingbird packs to their nearest supermarket with a soft plastics recycling bin or directly to the Hummingbird Experience Centre in Christchurch.

Cowper shared that while the uptake of organic clean-label products has been steady, it faces challenges based on knowledge around the benefits and impacts of organic products and lack of regulation around what can be labelled as organic. Companies currently can call a product organic without being certified. This can cause both confusion and distrust within the industry and for consumers.

Another challenge for the category is its price point and accessibility.

However, Hummingbird remains proud that throughout the challenges of the pandemic, it has maintained an entirely 100 percent certified organic range, with the brand committed to continuing to deliver high-quality, fair trade organic products.

“As the market leader in fresh coffee, we must continuously educate our consumers about organic certification and lead the way of making specialty grade fair trade, certified organic coffee affordable and easily accessible.”

Cowper revealed that consumers should pay attention to the brand’s next singleorigin coffee from its Harvest range, as it will be sourced from the Marcala coffee region in Honduras.

The Country Manager iterated that the co-operative where the beans are sourced, Café Orgánico Marcala SA, was founded in 2001 by 69 farmers who set out to encourage quality and organic agriculture.

Over the years, the cooperative has cultivated over 1,200 members producing specialty-grade organic coffee, focusing on agricultural and social development. The cooperative has a school and operates organic education classes for farmers in various parts of the region and country.

“This next single origin has been developed to pair beautifully with oat, almond, and soy milk for a full, rounded mouth-feel. It has indulgent and bitter notes of dark chocolate with a hint of concentrated and sweet fruity notes of sultanas and vanilla.”

The new single origin will be available in most supermarkets in a 200g bag of coffee beans or plunger grind from the beginning of June.

Cowper shared that despite enjoying mixing up his coffee brew and blend, his personal favourite Hummingbird product was Oomph! for its versatility and fruit characteristics. n