When students return from fall break, a new option will be brewing at Union Grounds in the Brown-Lupton University Union.

Next Wednesday, the coffee shop will begin offering organic Fair Trade blends from a local business called Aduro Bean.

The new option is the result of years of feedback from students who requested that the university provide Fair Trade coffee, said Kelly Raw, marketing manager for Dining Services.

Caroline Throckmorton, a junior Spanish and economics double-major, said the option is appealing because profits go directly to the coffee producers.

“It benefits the little guy,” said Throckmorton, who drinks at least one cup of coffee per day.

Nancy Crabb, who owns Aduro Bean with her husband Rupert Crabb, said Fair Trade coffee cuts out the middleman between the production and distribution of the beans. The process sends profits directly to the growers, who are often in small communities, instead of a corporate entity.

“It ensures that (the farmers) get a proper cut of the price of the coffee,” Crabb said.

Aduro Bean buys its beans from companies that are Fair Trade-certified and keep track of the paper trail through the production and purchasing processes, Crabb said.

College students are interested in Fair Trade coffee because they’ve grown up accustomed to specialty drinks rather than drinking their parents’ brand name coffees, Crabb said. They are conscientious about issues involving sustainability and Fair Trade, she said.

Leah Miskin, a sophomore marketing major who said she drank coffee as if it were her job, said exploring the Fair Trade option was just as important as the university’s efforts to go green in previous years. The addition of Fair Trade coffee coincides with the goals and missions of the university, she said.

Aduro Bean is scheduled to make its debut at Union Grounds next Wednesday. Crabb will have free samples of three blends from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

After the coffee’s debut, Union Grounds will sell one Fair Trade brew per week in addition to its current selection of Starbucks coffee, Raw said. The new coffee choices will be similar in price to that of current options.

Crabb said Dining Services and Aduro Bean have discussed the possibility of developing a custom TCU brew, which would be a student-driven creation that would be unique to the university. The blend would ideally be available for students to purchase in bags, so they could take it home, she said.

The blend should be ready by mid-December, Raw said.

Free samples of Aduro Bean Fair Trade coffee

When: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Union Grounds in the Brown-Lupton University Union