The Great Coffee Shout

Overview

We're of the opinion that Tuesday is the toughest day of the week, so any extra help to get through the morning we'll welcome with open arms. Luckily, Havana Coffee Works has come to the party — they're giving away free coffees to New Zealanders on Tuesday, October 4, to celebrate their new zero-waste initiative.

Twenty four venues in and around the Wellington area are participating in Havana's Great Coffee Shout, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a spot where you can get a free brew. Fidel's, Espresso High and Midnight Espresso are just a few of our favourite sites taking part.

It's all being done to get customers onboard with Havana's new sustainable scheme called the Coffee Cup Library — a system that allows customers to order their takeaway coffee in a returnable stainless-steel cup, just like borrowing a library book (you only pay for the cup if you don't return it within two weeks).

To get your free coffee and reusable cup, you'll first need to download an app called Again Again, and sign up. Once you have the app, you can check your Havana returnable cup in and out at your local participating cafe, by tapping your phone on the stand at the till — then you're good to go. It sounds fairly straightforward to us.

You're encouraged to keep bringing it back to participating stores, where the team will give you another reusable cup, and clean yours so that someone else can use it – again, like a library. It does sound pretty brilliant. We're all for supporting local sustainable schemes like this.

The Great Coffee Shout celebrations will be centred on Cuba Street, where Havana trucks will be parked showing Wellingtonians how to sign up, before directing them to one of the many participating outlets for fresh brews on their morning commute. But you can easily check out the participating stores and do it yourself.

But that ain't all. Over the months of October and November, every time a returnable coffee cup is borrowed, Havana will donate to a community cause selected by the café partner, every time a cup is borrowed. The simple act of ordering a coffee can be a bit of a waste and environmental nightmare. But it's made a whole lot more sustainable with this scheme. Kudos to the Havana team for dreaming this one up.