Mt. Airy resident Jason Huber and Stephanie Rowley, master roaster at High Point Cafe, prepare packages of Cityzen Coffee at High Point Cafe Wholesale facility, 6700 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy. Proceeds earned from the sale of the coffee will help fund The Global Classroom Project's service learning trip to Costa Rica. (Photo courtesy of Jason Huber)

by Sue Ann Rybak

Mt. Airy resident Jason Huber, founder of Global Classroom Project, a curriculum designed to enable young people to participate in an international service and learning experience, has partnered with High Point Cafe to create Cityzen Coffee. Proceeds raised from the sales of the coffee, which is pronounced “citizen,” will be used to fund an international service and immersion project in Costa Rica.

Last week, students from Building 21, a non-selective Philadelphia Public High School in North Philadelphia, took a Septa bus to High Point Cafe's wholesale facility at 6700 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy to learn about the world's second largest traded commodity: coffee.

Stephanie Rowley, master roaster at High Point Cafe Wholesale, a coffee roasting facility and commercial bakery with a separate gluten-free kitchen, showed students different kinds of coffee beans and discussed how different environments affect the characteristics of a particular coffee bean.

Students examined coffee beans before and after they were roasted from Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Sumatra.

They also learned about the different stages of the roasting process and how different changes in temperature and roasting times affect the flavor of the coffee. Rowley explained that during the first few minutes of the roasting process the bean remains greenish but then slowly turns yellowish and emits a grassy-like smell. The bean begins to steam as its internal water content dissipates.

She said the next stage is called the “first crack.” She explained that you can hear a cracking sound as the sugars in the bean begin to caramelize and oils from the bean are released.  She added that while coffee is considered roasted anytime after the first crack, continuing to roast the coffee – especially after the second crack – will result in a darker roast.

“The longer the coffee roasts, the more it begins to lose some of its distinct flavor associated with the type of bean,” Rowley said.

She added that contrary to popular belief, darker roasts do not have a higher caffeine content.

“A lot of companies, such as Starbucks, roast all their coffee to a certain temperature, so it always tastes the same. If you roast the beans above 435 degrees, your coffee starts to carbonize and it loses all of its original characteristics,” Rowley said. “Many families live on what we buy a cup of coffee for.”

She said coffee is actually a seed of a fruit called the coffee cherry, which turns bright, deep red when it is ripe and ready to harvest.

According to the National Coffee Association, “A good picker will pick approximately 100 to 200 pounds of coffee cherries a day, which will produce 20 to 40 pounds of coffee beans. Each worker's daily haul is carefully weighed and paid on the merit of his work before it is transported to the processing plant.”

Rowley said High Point Cafe' pays more for its raw product, so that “all the communities involved receive a fair price for their product.”

She added that the company pays between $3.50 and $4.50 a cup for its coffee, depending on the cup.

“A lot of corporations, especially since they buy in such huge bulk, will pay 50 cents to $2 for their product,” she said.

Huber said that when the GCP students travel to Costa Rica they will be able to tour a coffee plantation.

“When you get to Costa Rica you will get to see a coffee plant,” he said. “You will be able to pick the bean off the coffee plant.”

He said by understanding how coffee is grown, harvested, processed, roasted and sold, young people gain “real world knowledge" that allows them to make responsible  educated decisions about the products they buy and how their choices impact other people around the world.

Huber said one of the goals of the Global Classroom Project is to help youth become productive and contributing citizens.

He explained why Cityzen Coffee is spelled with a “Y.”

“It's not about the ‘I,’” he said. “It's about the ‘Y.’ It's not about the individual. It's about why we do this for the greater good. It's about educating students and helping them make responsible and impactful choices when spending their money.”

He said The Global Classroom Project empowers students to have a service and immersion global experience while making a difference in their community. 

“Students start by creating a local service project and volunteering in other community service projects,” he said.

Then they create what he describes as “a socially just fund-raising business,” such as Cityzen Coffee.

“High Point Cafe' is selling the coffee to us at cost, so all the proceeds earned from selling the coffee go towards the students' trip to Costa Rica,” Huber said.

Rowley said the decision to partner with the Global Classroom Project was an easy one.

“High Point Cafe' has always been community oriented,” she noted,” and that includes any community that we are involved with – not only our own but all over the world. And if it takes a little bit more effort and money on our end to create an environment where people can live a fulfilling life, then we all about that. It's part of our mantra and our idealism that everyone should live a good, fulfilled life.

“The Global Classroom Project's international service trip is an incredible opportunity for today's youth. High Point Cafe is happy be part of the learning process and to help make that trip happen because we really believe it is important to be involved in your community and to pass that on to the youth of today.”

After the presentation, Huber asked the students what they had learned. 

Students responded with a wide range of answers, including learning about the different kinds of beans and that roasting beans was a surprisingly very “disciplined process.”

Tori Holt, a ninth grader at Build 21 High School, summed up the lesson Huber wanted to convey to his students: “Even though, it seems like such a simple thing – buying a cup of coffee – it affects so many people.”

Cityzen Coffee sells for $15 a pound. Huber is in the process of setting up an online site to buy the coffee. He also hopes to sell the coffee at local stores in the neighborhood. To purchase Cityzen Coffee and help raise funds for the students' service learning project in Costa Rica, email Jason Huber at jason@globalclassroomproject.com.