Cuppa herbs

WORDS Nadine Botha PHOTOS Fay Jackson

Lees in Afrikaans.

Drink coffee and amass your own herb garden with Truth’s new Seeds of Truth project, developed in collaboration with digital agency Native.

The project entails serving coffee in limited-edition biodegradable coffee cups that feature a protecting ring implanted with seeds. Once you’ve had your caffeine fix, scrunch the protector ring, drop it in the cup, and just add soil and water to start your own herb garden. You can choose between basil, rocket and thyme and an engraved stick stirrer left in the cup will remind you which you planted.

With the launch invite simply promising to “make the coffee cup completely disappear,” we were skeptical until we “got it”. Once the herbs have sprouted, you can replant the biodegradable cup straight into a garden or larger pot plant. The cup will disintegrate – poof, gone!

Now that’s taking “landfill” to a whole new level. Speaking of landfill, just the Americans alone throw away 250-billion disposable coffee cups a year. To bring it home to us South Africans, “one takeaway cup a day for a year can create one ton of waste, clear 30sqm of forest or add 10kg of carbon to the atmosphere,” reads Truth’s press release.

“For me, the aim is to show the reality of repurposing as opposed to recycling,” said Truth CEO David Donde. “Native approached me with the idea and we workshopped it together.”

Native’s executive creator, Ryan McManus agrees: “We realise you can’t stop people from buying coffee. But we wanted to help them reduce their carbon footprint and give city dwellers a herb garden in the process.”

VISI thinks this is a brilliant idea and can’t wait to see the Seeds of Truth bloom throughout the city. We’re sure it’s just a matter of time for wiley Capetonians to turn to guerilla gardening and seed bombing, with urban farms popping up in the most unexpected of places. Remember our article about the Oranjezicht City Farm and Liani van der Westhuizen’s blog about inner-city food gardens? Don’t forget the edible shack and the shipping container port-a-farm.

Oh yes and illustrator Christiaan Venter did the design on the cups – pretty enough to almost make us reluctant to bury it!

More info www.truthcoffee.com/seeds-of-truth

See our photoshoot of Truth’s amazing steampunk interior.