Michelle Locke
The Associated Press via The
Globe and Mail
March
08, 2012
 |
Hugh Jackman attends the afterparty
for the Toronto
premiere of Real Steel.
Photo: JJ Thompson
Courtesy of The Globe and Mail
|
You
know you like your cup of joe in the morning. But are you ready for a cup of
Hugh?
We
are, of course, talking about actor Hugh Jackman, who recently launched a
coffee and tea company that raises money for charity.
Philanthropy
is the driving force behind his invsolvement in the coffee world. In a
telephone interview, Mr. Jackman talked about being inspired by the late Paul
Newman and his company, Newman's Own, which has donated millions to charity.
But it's not the only reason.
The
other factor? Taste.
“Hey,
I'm a coffee snob,” says Mr. Jackman, who could drink coffee “all day, because
I just love it,” but limits himself to one or two cups. “If I'm buying it, I
want a great cup of coffee. If you can have a great cup of coffee and the
profits of that company are actually going back to different charities, I think
it's a win-win for everybody.”
Mr.
Jackman's interest in creating a coffee company was sparked during a tour he
took as an ambassador for World Vision, an organization that works with
children and families. In Ethiopia, he met Dukale, a coffee farmer, and was
struck by how hard he worked to look after his family, and by how a little help
could make a big difference in the lives of coffee farmers.
In a
piece of synchronicity, he discovered that a friend, Barry Steingard, who has
25 years experience in the coffee and restaurant industry, was planning on
getting back in the coffee business. “I said, ‘Well, do you need a partner?’”
Jackman said.
So
far, Laughing Man Coffee & Tea – chocolates were also recently added – is
the first subsidiary under Mr. Jackman's umbrella company, Laughing
Man Worldwide. The way it works is that 50 per cent of the
subsidiary profits go to the parent company, which then donates 100 per cent of
its profits. Educational initiatives are the focus of the coffee company, which
has partnered with Harlem Village Academies, the well-regarded charter schools
in New York, and World Vision.
And
Mr. Jackman's not the only java star.
Leonardo
DiCaprio is partnering with the La Colombe Torrefaction coffee company to create a special
blend, LYON, with net profits earmarked for environmental projects supported by
the actor's foundation.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Newman's daughter, Nell Newman, partnered with Vermont's Green Mountain
Coffee Roasters, Inc. to source, roast, package and distribute fair-trade
organic coffee under the Newman's Own Organics label.
Green Mountain allocates at least five per cent of pretax profits to social and
environmental projects in the communities where it does business.
Celebrity
coffees are just a fraction of the overall market. Still, the trend of
celebrities working with high-quality roasters to make coffee for a cause “can
only be a good thing,” says Miles Small, owner and editor-in-chief of
CoffeeTalk magazine, based in Vashon, Wash.
“Coffee
is, and has always been, an instrumental tool in bringing disparate folks
together for a common cause,” he said. “Buying celebrity coffee with a donation
element helps toward achieving the charitable goals of the celebrity and also
helps the over 25 million families worldwide whose survival is dependent on the
growing of this ‘not so simple' beverage called coffee.”
In
some ways, the coffee-celebrity connection seems a natural. Who hasn't seen
umpteen paparazzi shots of stars clutching their Starbucks?
But
Mr. Jackman laughs when asked if Hollywood has
a corner on caffeine.
“Coffee
is the world over,” he said. “It's one of the oldest products known to man and
it's one of the greatest crops ever. Traditionally, coffee is part of ritual
and part of unity and community.”
In
Ethiopia, the families that Mr. Jackman met roasted, ground, brewed and drank
coffee together. “It's all part of community and being together,” he said. “I
think it's kind of a great product and underlines what our company is about.”