Discover the impact Amy’s Blend has on women in the coffee industry

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Amy’s Blend is all about brewing good and doing good

Each year, a very special coffee appears exclusively on the shelves of your local Caribou Coffee coffeehouse. It’s called Amy’s Blend, a light and dark roast coffee sourced from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Kenya and Ethiopia, and was inspired by the legacy of our original roastmaster, Amy Erickson.  

After Amy lost her battle with breast cancer in 1995, we launched Amy’s Blend in her honor and have continued our commitment to the charitable initiative, donating proceeds of Amy’s Blend sales to non-profit organizations that reflect her legacy. Caribou Coffee is proud to partner again with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA). For every bag of Amy’s Blend purchased, Caribou Coffee will donate $1 to the International Women’s Coffee Alliance* because we align with IWCA’s belief statement: when women are empowered, communities thrive. To close out Women’s History month, from March 29-30 we will also donate 100% of proceeds from Amy’s Blend light and dark roast to IWCA, helping to support and uplift women in coffee. 

Proceeds from Amy’s Blend 2025 will be donated to IWCA with intentional contributions made to IWCA chapters in the countries where Amy’s Blend is sourced, empowering them to develop and execute programs that will achieve meaningful change for women throughout the coffee industry.  

A look back at our partnership with IWCA 

Our partnership with IWCA started in 2024 when we donated part of the proceeds from Amy’s Blend sales to support their work in empowering women in coffee and alleviating the challenges of the industry, including those brought on by climate change.  

The contributions from our partnership create lasting change by expanding the knowledge and enhancing the living conditions of women coffee producers. We heard directly about our impact from Domitila, the Chair of the Board at the Guatemalan Association of Women in Coffee. Domitila shared that the funds allowed them to “organize specialized workshops and courses so that our women coffee producers could acquire a deeper understanding of grafting techniques, nursery management, and other sustainable agricultural practices.” They were also able to acquire high-quality materials and tools to more accurately assess the participants’ skills and foster healthy competition. 

After the 2024 window of selling Amy’s Blend concluded, our annual General Managers event, BouCon took place. At BouCon, our four stores with the highest Amy’s Blend sales presented the check for $36,000 to IWCA’s Global Executive Director, Blanca, who was in attendance. Blanca took the stage in front of our hundreds of managers and shared about IWCA and the impact our donation would have on the communities where it would show up. General Manager Aasta M., one of the four to present the check, remains motivated to sell Amy’s Blend because of the touching story behind it and the impact the sales have on the coffee community. Presenting the check at BouCon was a life altering moment, “what [IWCA] does is priceless and I’m glad I was a part of that,” Aasta shared. 

Team members presenting a check to the International Women’s Coffee Alliance at our annual national manager meeting in June 2024.
Blanca sharing the IWCA mission and donation impact with our team members.

Enjoy Amy’s Blend and make an impact

One of our main commitments is to show up for the communities in which we do business. This means giving back through coffee donations, event support and engagement, as well as partnerships that allow us to provide for communities that grow our coffee, as we do with our IWCA partnership. Today, 30 years after Amy’s passing, her legacy still leads us to support women in coffee around the world, all while bringing delicious specialty-grade coffee to our guests. 

Stock up on a bag or two (or three!) and enjoy the complex flavors while helping us build a stronger, more compassionate coffee community. When roasted differently, Amy’s Blend light roast is bright and silky with melon acidity, silky body, and raw sugar sweetness. Amy’s Blend dark roast is sweet and smoky with herbal acidity, milk body, and licorice sweetness. 

* Caribou Coffee® will donate $1 for every bag of Amy’s Blend 1lb prepack beans purchased, up to a maximum of $50,000, to the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) from March 6 – June 4, 2025.

Categorized as Coffee.