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A window sticker invites guests to the 3 Cups Café in Holladay on an unknown date. 

Courtesy 3 Cups Coffee by Elisha Braithwaite

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A customer picks up her coffee at a café in an unknown location on an unknown date. 

Courtesy Bellwether Coffee

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Customers gather together at the 3 Cups Café in Holladay on an unknown date. 

Courtesy 3 Cups Coffee

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A café in Holladay is partnering with the first nationwide manufacturer to bring already-developed zero-emissions coffee applications to locally based commercial businesses.

Eighteen years ago, Utah native Derek Belnap broke into the coffee industry as a fresh-faced barista in his 20s. When he was just starting out, being a barista was simply a “fun, cool job,” he said, but as Belnap continued, he began to fall in love with the industry.

It wasn’t until nine years into his career that Belnap developed 3 Cups Coffee, a community-centered café that places emphasis on the quality of its brew and customer service.

From the beginning, 3 Cups Coffee touted the high caliber of coffee it could make with its house blend of beans and Salt Lake City-based Blue Copper roasters, but Belnap said it was time for a change.

Bellwether Coffee, a California-based coffee appliances company with partnerships in 30 different states, was looking to break into the Utah market.

As 3 Cups Coffee continued to grow and become a more reputable and notable café in northern Utah, Bellwether took interest and reached out to its owner, Bellwether CEO Nathan Gilliland said.

Belnap said he was initially skeptical when the company first reached out, but over time, he felt more and more confident in the message and company.

“I actually put off talking to them for a bit,” he said. “But when I talked to them, it was intriguing.”

In 2013, Bellwether Coffee began developing an electric, ventless, zero-emissions commercial coffee roaster that could be run by an iPad app with artisan-crafted roast profiles, full roast controls, a green coffee marketplace, and inventory management system.

Gilliland said Bellwether Coffee administrators recognized the harmful impacts the coffee industry in the United States was having. In the U.S., 8 billion pounds of roasted coffee are produced each year.

The emissions from this production, Gilliland said, is not sustainable for the planet or healthy for the people who are living on it.

“Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages across the globe, so we, as an industry, need to take into account the harmful effects of traditional coffee roasting and work to do better,” Gilliland said.

Since Bellwether Coffee was able to develop a zero-emissions commercial coffee roaster, the company has been inviting cafés to partner with its team in an effort to make locally based coffee shops more sustainable with a higher-quality product.

Belnap said cafés and their owners should be thinking of the future in a more sustainable manner, not only for individual locations but also for the industry as a whole.

“The aspect of giving a little more to care for the farmers that provide this product at the beginning, which I think is often the neglected portion of the coffee industry, is vital,” he said.

In fact, Gilliland said sourcing coffee in a way that positively impacts coffee farmers is one of the coffee industry’s greatest hurdles.

By building a more environmentally sustainable commercial roaster and building relationships with coffee growers, Bellwether Coffee is hoping to support the people throughout the industry, from the producers to the baristas.

Bellwether Coffee installed the most sustainable commercial coffee roasting appliance in late June, and Belnap said he is looking forward to seeing how a sustainable, in-house coffee roaster will impact what the café has to offer.