Thanks to an upstart coffee microroaster, when the masses at the Vancouver Convention Centre get their daily jolt, it's organic and fair-trade.
Since 2010, North Vancouver's Moja Coffee has been the exclusive supplier to the VCC. Moja co-founder Doug Finley - who launched the company with Andrew Wentzel in 2003 - says he was impressed with how the VCC diligently sourced out the best bean for its buck.
The big businesses, corporations and hotels always seem to be mandated almost exclusively by price, but (the VCC) basically took the same approach as an independent café owner," he said. "They went out and kicked the tires of every single roaster around that fit the bill."
While Moja was easily one of the smallest fish in a big cup during the bid process, they still managed to land a lucrative contract that now sees them supplying their Rainforest Alliance Sumatra brand to what is the largest singlelocation coffee user in the entire province. Only
the BC Ferries fleet purchases more java overall."It's a big feather in our cap," says Finley.
