After 20+ years of service and countless cups of coffee and tea poured, we officially said goodbye to Celestial Seasonings as of Sept. 1, 2019.
In their place, we welcome Gravity Espresso听鈥� a locally owned venture lead by Ari Wolfe, who served as the engineering caf茅 manager under Celestial Seasonings. She鈥檚 joined by Lauren Holm, who will oversee their growing staff of baristas 鈥� including many of the same staff who have been serving the Engineering Center over the past couple years.
We sat down with Holm and asked her about the changes and what you can expect from Gravity Cafe.
Q: When did you begin working for Celestial?
A: I started working for Celestial four years ago when I was completing my undergrad in the Environmental Design program.
Q: Are you working full-time now?
A: Yep, I鈥檓 managing Gravity Cafe while also working on my master鈥檚 degree in organizational leadership, and doing some lifeguarding on the side. It keeps me on my toes!
Q: That鈥檚 impressive 鈥� how does it feel to be a part of a new venture like Gravity Espresso?
A: I鈥檓 so excited! Ari is the best manager I鈥檝e ever worked for and it鈥檚 a privilege to be a part of this next evolution of the cafes.
Q: What does this mean for students?
A: We have a new name and new ownership, but most of the customer experience will remain the same. Switching over to new stamp cards was enough of a change for the first month. In the coming months, we鈥檙e excited to have the opportunity to partner with student groups and campus activities. We are focused on building a strong community around Gravity 鈥� after all, the students, faculty and staff are everything for us.
But what we鈥檙e most excited about is becoming as sustainable as possible in our practices. With the recent announcement that CU Engineering is getting rid of all single-use plasticware, we are working to minimize our waste. We鈥檝e already switched over to all compostable cups, lids, and straws. We are working on transitioning the last couple items over more sustainable choices. We鈥檙e always looking for creative new ways we can do better.
For example, we鈥檙e bringing in new boxed smoothies instead of the Odwalla smoothies. The company we picked to replace them was created by a cancer patient while he was going through chemotherapy. Most organic products are Certified Organic听and all soy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO and free of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. The bottles are also non-plastic and 100% recyclable.
Q: What are you most excited about moving forward?
A: I鈥檓 excited about the opportunities for staff development! Our baristas are amazing at what they do and love every moment of it, but they are also super talented in other areas. For example, one of our baristas, Nicole Maggio, is a CMCI (College of Media, Communication and Information) student and is helping us make the drink special posters!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Don鈥檛 forget you can always bring your own mug and get a 10-cent discount! It鈥檚 one more way we are working to encourage sustainable behavior! Oh 鈥� and a coffee refill is only $1.50 if you have your own mug!
Thanks to Lauren for talking with us 鈥� we鈥檙e equally excited to have them here at CU Engineering!
Looking to get in touch with Gravity? Questions? Suggestions?