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Aramark looks locally for better bean

CBD and Wicked Joe to face off in students' taste test

Matt Dodge

Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: News
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A student in Luther Bonney pours some of the last drops of the current brand of coffee served at USM. Aramark is holding taste tests to decide the next brand on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Media Credit: Jeffrey Ferland
A student in Luther Bonney pours some of the last drops of the current brand of coffee served at USM. Aramark is holding taste tests to decide the next brand on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Regardless of major, there are some questions every college student struggles with.

Regular, or decaf?

Cream? Sugar?

Fair Trade? Organic?

A survey this week will give students a chance weigh in on the future of USM's coffee offerings, as dining services seeks to switch to a local supplier in a push for a 'greener' bean.

"We are trying to work within our sustainability goals and make more purchases from local suppliers," said Mark Allen, director of USM's dining services.

Dining services brought in two potential vendors for a taste test last week with Brunswick-based Wicked Joe serving up brew on Tuesday, and Portland-based Coffee By Design offering samples on Thursday.

These taste-testing sessions will be followed up this week by a survey offered between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. this Tuesday and Wednesday in the Woodbury Campus Center dining area. The survey will gauge students' interest in switching from current vendor Pure Vida, who has been USM's retail coffee supplier for the last five years. The potential switch does not extend to Gorham's dining hall, which currently brews New England Coffee, although "that may change down the road," according to Allen.

Dining services have not made a final decision as to whether or not they will switch from Pura Vida and will wait until the results of the survey are tallied to hear what the students have to say on the issue.

Either of the new vendors would also mean expanded menu offerings on campus. Both companies can supply USM with espresso machines and other brewing equipment necessary to make specialty coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.

For some, the switch could not come fast enough.

"I will walk down to Mobil and drink Green Mountain over this," said junior Jason Batchelor, who also said he'll regularly stop at his neighborhood coffee shop on the way to school instead of drinking the university's current brew. "I think [Pure Vida] is terrible - just slightly below average," he added.
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