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Utica Zoo, Utica Coffee Roasting Co. partner on lion conservation

The Utica Zoo is working with Utica Coffee Roasting Co. on a project to benefit lion-conservation efforts. The zoo will donate the proceeds from the sale of Lion’s Roast coffee to the Lion Recovery Fund. (PHOTO CREDIT: UTICA ZOO WEBSITE)

UTICA — The Utica Zoo is working with Utica Coffee Roasting Co. to support conservation efforts for African lions. The Utica Zoo used its annual member-appreciation night and annual meeting to announce the collaboration on Lion’s Roast coffee. Lion’s Roast, described as a “limited edition” coffee, is a single-source coffee from Tanzania, which boasts the […]

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UTICA — The Utica Zoo is working with Utica Coffee Roasting Co. to support conservation efforts for African lions.

The Utica Zoo used its annual member-appreciation night and annual meeting to announce the collaboration on Lion’s Roast coffee.

Lion’s Roast, described as a “limited edition” coffee, is a single-source coffee from Tanzania, which boasts the largest concentration of wild lions in Africa.

The Tanzania Iyula coffee “offers notes of nectarine and citrus, with a bright and sweet flavor and aroma,” the Utica Zoo said in a release.

The zoo said it will donate proceeds from the sale of the coffee to the Lion Recovery Fund. The coffee is available at the Utica Zoo gift shop, Utica Coffee cafés in Utica and Clinton, and Chanatry’s Hometown Market, per the release.

The Lion Recovery Fund supports organizations across Africa to double the number of African lions in the wild by 2050. By supporting these various organizations, Lion Recovery Fund helps to protect wildlife, habitats, and local African communities. The Utica Zoo said it has chosen to support the Lion Recovery Fund to “ensure a future for Africa’s lions.”

“Supporting a cause such as the Lion Recovery Fund was an easy decision to make,” said Mark Simon, marketing coordinator for the Utica Zoo, said in the release. “The world has lost half of the population of lions in Africa over the last 25 years, so supporting an effort to double that population over the next 30 years was something we all felt passionately about. Working with the team at Utica Coffee has been a great experience; their expertise and knowledge of coffee has also allowed us to collaboratively bring a product to market that we think the community will truly enjoy. Pairing a high quality product with a high quality cause is a recipe for success.”

The San Francisco, California–based Wildlife Conservation Network and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation are the founding partners of the Lion Recovery Fund, according to its website.

Eric Reinhardt