Common Good is more than a brand of coffee. It represents a vision of change in the places where change is needed most. Our neighbourhoods. And not just the neighbourhoods that are we call ‘local’ either — but neighbourhoods abroad, in places like Kolkata, where the work of Kiwis is making a lasting impact in the very toughest of neighbourhoods: where extreme poverty, human trafficking, and the constant degradation of people and places means good isn’t as common as it should be.

 Common Good Coffee is also the convergence of three extraordinary stories, three groups with common interests and common heartbeats: the Addington Coffee Co-op in Christchurch, which has been enriching the neighbourhood with its cafe and associated business projects for more than 12 years; Crave Cafe in Morningside, Auckland, which over the past 10 years has become NZ’s biggest and busiest cafe; and the social enterprise work of Paul and Anna Fletcher in Whanganui and their Common Ground neighbourhood pop-up. Common Good Coffee arose out of conversations and shared vision between the three — and their three neighbourhoods, in Christchurch, Auckland and Whanganui, act as roasting and distribution hubs for the new national brand.

Crave and Addington and Common Ground will continue to do “good in the hood”, while together they will produce, distribute and brew Common Good Coffee and contribute $5 from every kilo sold to the work of Joyya in Kolkata, to help finance the ongoing work in those neighbourhoods too.

That’s why Common Good Coffee is three times better than any coffee you’ve ever tasted. It has superior flavour, it’s doing social good, and it’s a better deal for the growers—because Common Good uses only Fair Trade organic green beans. 

Common Good Coffee makes so much sense that the only question is why it’s taken so long for it to happen. It’s all been about timing, the guys say. And for a whole host of reasons, the timing is right now.

Common Good is available nationwide now from commongoodcoffee.nz