Bunna Coffee Tea & Market

7520 S. Rural Rd. Suite 12
Tempe, AZ. 85283
BunnaCoffee.com

Hopefully this will be the first of many reviews on AzSustainably of local restaurants that are trying to do their part to be ‘green.’ Although eating at home is probably the best way to eat ‘green’ (assuming you eat fresh and/or can get a hold of locally grown produce and you are not a tremendously wasteful person in the way you cook, etc) but eating out is fun! It is one of our main recreations (just ask our expanding waist lines and our thinning wallets). Finding a new and unique restaurant, coffee shop, or tea house just makes our day. What makes it even more exciting is when you can find all three in one shop and to top it all off they are independently owned and actually care about making a positive difference in the environment!

Besides being absolutely delicious, their wide variety of coffee and tea is organically grown and fair trade. We found Bunna on the Local First AZ website, saw what they were all about and convinced our friends Tori and Josh to meet us there. The brunch that they offer every weekend from 7am-2pm is made from as many locally grown and organic ingredients as possible and it was fantastic!! By purchasing their fresh produce locally they are avoiding the toll on the environment of transporting from across the globe as well as the energy and packaging that goes into frozen foods. Also, by going organic they are preserving the soils for future healthy agriculture along with avoiding all sorts of crazy pesticides and herbicides you would not want to be eating.

The atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming with cool artwork on the walls by local artists and a talented guitarist and singer playing. The seating was comfortable and the front counter was inviting, not at all pretentious as some cafes can be. It was not too loud to have great conversation and I can’t wait to go back again. They even have free wi-fi so if I need a place to get some work done online this is going to be the first place I head to.

I had the bowl of granola with strawberries and soy milk. They were extremely generous with the berries as most places really skimp on that and they are the best part! It was very tasty. I also had the jasmine green tea. I am a bit of a tea snob and with such a large variety of organic teas it was difficult to decide but I do adore good jasmine green tea. Tori ordered the White Peony tea and it was very tasty as well. I lucked out, again they were very generous with the tea. I loved that they had various sizes of mugs rather than paper, plastic or goodness forbid styrofoam cups. I had a large mug and there so many leaves in my bag I had four refills of hot water and it was still the perfect strength! James and Josh both expressed that the coffee was quite good, as well.

The boys, ironically, ordered the smallest portions with breakfast sandwiches that came on English muffins. They looked really yummy but for the price I would say try something else if you are coming with a big appetite. Tori had the veggie sandwich #2 and gave it two thumbs up. They have a ‘green’ outlook, amazing coffees and teas, good vegetarian options and everything was yummy. We would certainly return on a week day for some nearly guilt-free (in so far as it is organic and free-trade) teas and coffees and on the weekends for brunch. Go Bunna!

The Automotive Service Association of Arizona has been approved by the The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to certify Arizona service locations as green. Auto shops already have certain environmental standards they must meet, but the shops certified as green go above and beyond what is required. To become certified shops must complete a checklist and score at least 300 points. This checklist covers areas such as cleaning, degreasing, energy conservation and require shops to use low hazard, low-pollution solvents or water-based cleaners, recycle waste fluids and oils, use energy-efficient lighting and A/C to name a few. To see a list of shops certified green and to see the checklist head over to ASAAZ.info.

Enjoy a day of powerful presentations designed to educate and promote green living practices and environmental insights for the way we work, play and live. Top experts in various dimensions of “Green Living” headline this unique conference.

 

• 6 Extraordinary Speakers
• Book Signings with Authors
• Delicious Lunch Included
• Raffle for Great Green Prizes
• Eco-Friendly Vendors
• Green Living Resources

The conference will feature renowned speakers: Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden (over 35,000 copies sold), Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands (and will have his newly released Volume 2 available), Greg Peterson from Your Guide to Green and the Urban Farm, as well as many more top-level experts within the fields of GREEN Living!

Conference is Mar 3rd 9am to 5pm at the Phoenix Zoo Stonehouse Pavilion.
$44 per person if you register by April 1st. $55 after that.
You must register to attend, no walk-ins. Space is limited.

Get the full scoop at the Green Living Conference website.

Local First Arizona is a non-profit started in 2003 by Kimber Lanning to support locally owned businesses. They do this by educating the public about the benefits of local business and by having an extensive database of local business listings on their website.

Local business really defines a city and sets it apart from areas where all there is is the same chains you see everywhere else. Also when you buy local much more of the money stays local, helping out our economy. I’m sure Local First Arizona will thrive in Tucson where thinking local already seems to be more prevalent then Phoenix.

Lanning acknowledges that it can be easier and cheaper to go to the big box retailers. But she said a study in Austin showed that for every $100 spent at a local business, $42 stays in town, while only $13 spent at a major chain stays in town.
“Anyone who feels they are saving more today by going to a chain store is taking dollars out of their children’s pockets,” Lanning said.

Learn more from this article at tucsoncitizen.com

And at Local First Arizona’s own site.

Intel Corp. is going “green” in a big way. The semiconductor giant said Monday it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates, which will make Intel the largest corporate purchaser of green power in the U.S.Among the alternative energy technologies that will be supported by the program are wind, solar and biomass.“This is the single largest purchase of renewable certificates in the history of the program,” said Intel spokesman Bill Calder.

Complete Article at East Valley Tribune