Adventure Meets Arabica: A Colorado Roaster's Charitable Coffee Series

A Nonprofit Turns to Coffee

First Descents, a Denver-based nonprofit, has offered free adventure programming to young adults with cancer since 2001 — surf outings on the ocean, climbing trips in the mountains and plenty of other excursions. In December, the organization announced it was stepping into the coffee world, and its partner in that venture sits in one of the globe's prime adventure destinations.

Minturn, a small Colorado town, is known for its scenic peaks, top-tier skiing and the roasting operation Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea. Together, the two organizations created the Out Living It series, a line of three blends — light, medium and dark — whose name reflects First Descents' mission. Sarah Hubbard, the nonprofit's director of marketing, explains the double meaning: "It's a play on words for outliving the disease as well as being outside and living beyond the disease."

The connection traces back to Jaimie Healey, Vail Mountain's director of marketing, who volunteered with First Descents in 2006. "I loved and respected them immediately," she says, "and I knew that if I was ever in a position to do something to help them, I would." Healey brought the concept to owners Chris Chantler and Craig Arsenau, who saw the adventure-focused nonprofit as a natural fit for a company whose tagline is "Fuel Your Adventure."

How the Giving Works

For each 12-ounce bag sold, Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea directs $0.50 to First Descents; each five-pound bag sold generates $1.25 for the organization. Healey points to transparency as a key draw: "One thing we really like about First Descents," she says, "is that they communicate exactly what it takes to send one camper to camp, which is $1,000. So we're able to track sales and measure our contribution."

First Descents focuses on young adults from 18 to 39, a group the nonprofit describes as traditionally the least-supported demographic among people diagnosed with cancer. "These folks are just reaching the stage in their life where they want to be independent—they might have just graduated from college or just gotten married," Hubbard says. "A cancer diagnosis has the potential to take them back into a place of dependence on their family and their doctors as well as affecting their confidence, body image and wide range of other psychosocial issues. At First Descents, our programs are built to take them out of their environment, where they may be the only sick person they know, drop them into an incredible outdoor location, introduce them to 15 other young adults fighting the same disease, and use outdoor sports as the challenge to remind them how strong and capable they really are."

Blends Built Together

The coffees themselves emerged from hands-on collaboration. First Descents staff visited Minturn, tasted coffees and shared their reactions. "We tasted a bunch of blends to really understand the nuances," Hubbard says. "They really wanted to get a sense of what coffees we liked." Vail Mountain drew on that input to develop a proprietary line for the nonprofit.

The three Out Living It blends are available via Amazon and were slated to arrive soon at select Whole Foods, Safeway and Kroger stores in Colorado. Healey says Vail Mountain is working on broadening distribution. "We're moving into more spots every day, and everyone has been very supportive so far," she says.

Both partners are also spreading word of the charitable component, and Hubbard hopes the nonprofit sees tangible returns. "If a major company were to decide to swap out whatever bulk coffee they're ordering for their office space for this," she says, "the ramifications for us could be huge."