Earlier today Peet’s Coffee announced a $250,000 donation to the University of California, Davis to fund the Peet’s Coffee Pilot Roastery, which will be part of the university’s Coffee Center, the first of its kind according to a joint press release put out by Peet’s and UC Davis. This new coffee center will focus on “post-harvest coffee research and engineering.”
Studying coffee isn’t new to UC Davis. “The Design of Coffee” is most popular elective at the university with more than 1,500 students enrolling in the course during the 2015-16 school year. The Coffee Center will build upon the course and “expect[s] the Center will do for coffee what the renowned UC Davis wine and brewing programs have accomplished on behalf of those industries,” states dean of the College of Engineering Jennifer Sinclair Curtis.
From the press release:
As the Coffee Center will be the first multidisciplinary university research center in the nation and the world devoted to post-harvest studies of coffee, UC Davis expects to host large numbers of both undergraduate and graduate students eager learn more about the art and science of coffee. The Coffee Center will also collaborate closely with the Specialty Coffee Association of America to support graduate research fellowships and to offer technical short courses aimed at people in the coffee industry.
In addition to offering opportunities for privately funded company research, public research released by the UC Davis Coffee Center will range from the microbiology of green coffee fermentation, to the chemistry of roasting and brewing, to sensory and consumer science. The center is the first step in establishing a Global Coffee Institute at UC Davis.
“This is an invitation to the entire coffee industry,” said Doug Welsh [Peet’s Vice President for Coffee]. “It is about opening the door, but also about setting the bar for all of us to learn more together and advance the industry. Given how fundamental it is to our lives, we should invest in an understanding of coffee as profound as our enjoyment.”
For more information on the Coffee Center and Peet’s Pilot Coffee Roastery, visit the UC Davis site here.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via UC Davis
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