Page 63 - #60 English

3. Like any kitchen 3fe has a lot of chaff and smokes bacon for them
1 into vegetable ferments like the hot 7. Now onto pancakes: everybody
with same chaff.
vegetable trimmings, these now go
sauce, sauerkraut, kimchi and other
loves pancakes! Maple syrup is ex-
interesting things they have been
pensive and not even Irish, so now
playing around with in our kitchen.
3fe makes their own cascara syrup
from the cascara, which is the dried
1. First of all, 3fe got compost bins 4. Fruit cores is something that’s fruit of the coffee bean. Pancakes
out the back, by January this is going really great for making vinegars with, and syrup with a caffeine hit- perfect
to be ready to use as they start their then they keep the mother from for that weekend brunch.
first ever vegetable patch. The team these vinegars and keep making
produces a LOT of coffee grounds them. Every batch is a little different
so they are using the bulk of this in in flavor. Its like a bubbling science
they compost and if there’s too lab in 3fe dry store sometimes.
much coffee grounds Dave from
little cress, who grows 3fe’s micro 5. Local sourcing is something that
cress, takes it for his own compost. is a massive part of sustainability. At
the happining 3fe thought that by
2. Another thing 3fe produces a lot buying Irish and organic where pos-
of is waste milk- this sounds gross but sible we were doing a great job being
its actually perfectly normal and safe sustainable but in fact it needs to be
to use. Its basically the leftover milk within a 50 mile radius to be consid- 8
they collect when baristas steam milk ered truly sustainable. So they’ve had
for your cappuccinos. they collect the to go back to the drawing board with
surplus milk and keep it refrigerated, a lot of ingredients and unfortu-
then use this to make ricotta and nately turn around to some produc-
yoghurt. Its really delicious and you ers/suppliers and say “Look we need 8. Last but not least, 3fe roasts their
feel great knowing you made it from it to be free range, organic and own coffee and they know where it
something that ordinarily would have within a 50 mile radius.” comes from, they know that the farm-
just got chucked down the sink.
ers get paid properly for it and that its
6. Chaff is a waste product the really good quality. But when they
guys get when they roast coffee, started thinking outside the box they
its sort of like the skin of a peanut. started to think about chocolate. The
Its really dry and they were look-
3 ing for a way to use it rather than means we use a lot of chocolate.The
team sell so many brownies, which
just get rid of it. Then their pork
recipe still remains a secret but the
supplier walked in the door with
chocolate they now use is Callebaut
smoked bacon (that he smokes
organic and 100% fair trade. Its more
himself) perfect! He now collects
expensive but its worth it.

All this sustainability stuff is actually a really difficult task to do under normal circumstances but as 3fe
changes their menu weekly it is even more challenging for them to do this. But it’s good to challenge yourself to
keep on top of the game, it keeps you going.All in all, having a more sustainable approach to the café, and the busi-
ness as a whole, just means trying to make smarter choices when it comes to the way we do things. A lot of the
changes 3fe was made to be more environmentally friendly have had knock-on effects financially, for example sav-
ing on waste and energy costs. The cafe had to adjust their pricing for more sustainable ingredients in the dishes;
for example, free range pork is generally a very expensive product. This meant that the team had to increase the
prices of pork based dishes but managed to avoid a significant price increase by dealing directly with the farmer,
as opposed to through a supplier.These changes are something that are important to a lot of customers, and it’s
really encouraging to hear from customers who are excited about the things 3fe is trying to do. They would highly
recommend that cafes look at the long-term sustainability of their business - it’s a never ending process, and there’s
always more to learn, but they’ve found it hugely rewarding!

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