Some customers multi-task at Amavida, working and dining or sipping.
Love Life with Amavida by Susan Benton
When the New Year rings in, so do the resolutions, with most of them never being kept. An easy one to focus on in 2017 is the guiding principal behind Amavida Coffee & Tea: Love Life.
Located in the heart of Seaside, with a second location in Rosemary Beach, Amavida is a favorite spot among locals and visitors, not only because of its high quality coffee, tea, cuisine and service, but also because customers can feel good about what they are consuming, while also knowing that they are helping to make the world a better place. What could be a better New Year’s resolution?
Owner Dan Bailey says, “We want our customers to get to know the types of cuisine from the places where we source our coffee. The lunch menu offered is authentic Latin street food that you would eat in the coffee growing regions.” Popular choices include the arepas, which are traditional corn cakes from Venezuela and Columbia, classic Mexican tacos and the Caribbean empanadas, to name a few.
Amavida Coffee & Tea derived its name from the Spanish words “amar” (love) and “vida” (life) after extensive soul searching, to define what beliefs and values were the most important to them. This is a company that is committed to conducting their business with a strong ethical foundation and a sense of fairness, while also building long-lasting and caring relationships with their customers, farmers, suppliers, employees and the community.
Amavida Coffee & Tea imports sustainable fair trade and organic coffee beans from over a dozen countries. They also roast beans and are a local wholesaler of specialty and premium-grade coffees to businesses throughout Northwest Florida and nationwide. Some of those serving and selling Amavida Coffee & Tea include Great Southern Café and Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant in Seaside, as well as Whole Foods and King Arthur Flour.
Amavida’s arepas are part of the shop’s authentic Latin street food menu.
“We don’t use typical coffee machines for brewing, but rather practice the craft of making coffee as governed by the Barista of America Guild. We only put out what is fresh. It doesn’t get any better,” Bailey says.
Another way that Amavida Coffee & Tea steps up its game is by supporting non-profits and by operating on 100-percent clean electric energy, with wind power. Since Chelco, the local South Walton provider, doesn’t produce its own power but rather buys contracts, Amavida Coffee & Tea could secure an agreement with Arcadia Power for alternate energy. “By choosing wind, we can crate a shift away from fossil based systems. This allows consumers a voice and we pay a small difference in energy credits,” Bailey says.
B-Corporations like Amavida Coffee & Tea are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by focusing on being the best for the world, not just the best in the world. To achieve certification, all B-Corps must undergo a rigorous investigation of business policies and procedures and are scored on four facets: Governance, Workers, Community and Environment. All B-Corporations voluntarily meet higher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance that makes them powerful agents for change, something we should all strive for in the coming years.
“One of our missions is to really get the consumers closer to what happens at the growing level,” Bailey says. “It can be complicated with those farms that are in other countries. But that is our end goal.”
Amavida Coffee & Tea is located at 2236 East County Highway 30A in Seaside. For more information call (850) 213-1965 Ext. 2040, or visit the website at amavida.com.