Coffee: A Science - Business Entrepreneurial Project

Welcome to MACTLAC Coffee Breakout Session.

About the workshop leader, Bradley E. Sturgeon, Ph.D

Professor Sturgeon recieved his Ph.D form UC Davis in 1994. He has research experience at Northwestern University (Hoffman), U of Chicago Medical Center (Halpern) and the NIH/NIEHS (Mason). Starting in 2000, Brad has taught college-level chemistry and has been teaching general chemistry and physical chemistry at Monmouth College for the past 10 years. Brad has a strong focus on teaching-through-research and other hands-on science activities. In addition to interests in food related chemistry, 3D printing, sustainable food production, ESR/EPR detection of transient free radicals, Brad coordinates the Monmouth Coffee Project...and owns a local small craft brewery.

Workshop Overview

The Monmouth Coffee Project (MCP) started the fall of 2009 and the beginnings/history of the project can be found here. In short, the MCP is a wholesale coffee roaster operating out of a food-grade chemistry lab. The members of the project purchase green (raw) coffee beans, roast, and sells to local retail establishments. As a wholesale business, we cannot sell directly to the customer, unless the customer is associated with the College which in this case these individuals are consider "tasters" and hence work for the MCP.

In general, science students are involved in the "front-end" operations (purchasing, roasting, packaging), business students are account representatives, and other disciplines (art/computer science/etc) engage through label design, online management, etc. At the present time, Brad Sturgeon, Chemistry faculty, manages the project and oversees day-to-day operations, although we are always on the lookout for a student manager.

Students/workers are not paid, but can receive independent study credit. In a given semester, 8-10 students work on the project; less than 25% of these are given independent study credit. Credit requires the student to engage in a discipline specific project and to write a paper (3-5 pages) in addition to the 3-4 hours work per week directed to the business operations. Many students enjoy learning in this highly "hands-on" environment and hence do not require academic credit, but instead see this an opportunity to expand their liberal arts education.

The MCP does make money, managed using QuickBooks Online, but does not pay for space, utilities, or wages and hence is considered an educational activity. All financial operations are done through the Colleges accounting system and hence provides another opportunity for students to learn about these financial issues.

During this 1- hour breakout session, Brad will review the overall operations of the project, discuss mainly the science-related operations, and provide hands-on activities that can be done at your home institution. Brad is also interested in exploring "franchise" opportunities (at no cost) as a means of establishing a network of learning.

Monmouth Coffee Project

Monmouth Coffee Project Presentation

The above presentation is specific to the Monmouth Coffee Project. It goes over most of the details associated with project. The link below is the "working" page for the project where student go to learn about the project and to decide whether they would like to consider working on the project.

Monmouth Coffee Project info page

History of Coffee

Coffee Presentation

The above is a 10-40 min presentation on the general background on "coffee." Shorter presentation can use these slides as a means of introducing general topics; a 40 min presentation would go into the deals of the many "liberal arts" topics tied to coffee, coffee history, and coffee culture.

See notes in the presentation

Additional Links/References

http://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/History-of-Coffee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee