Brennan LaBrie
News Editor
PLU students and staff are now able to pour their own drinks at the Old Main Market if they wish. In addition to the many options offered by OMM’s baristas, five taps now sit at the customer’s disposal within the store; two for cold brew coffee, two for kombucha, and one for kefir water, a little-known relative to kombucha.
Students can fill up their own cups or bottles at the taps, or buy one of the glass mugs, pints or growlers (liter jugs) for sale with their dining dollars or LuteBucks.
The idea for the machines came from Erin McGinnis, Associate Vice President for Hospitality and Retail Services Dining and Culinary Services, who had seen a similar machine at another Washington university and thought it would fit PLU perfectly.
Cold-brew coffee and bottled kombucha are popular sellers amongst
students, and Director of Retail Services Josh Girnus saw offering these items in bulk as a perfect way to “enhance the student experience.” In addition, the self-filling taps serve as part of OMM’s goal to become more sustainable.
The machines are stocked with cold brew from Dillanos Coffee Roasters, PLU’s coffee partner based out of Sumner, WA, and kombucha and kefir water from Rainbow Cloud Kombucha in Olympia. They were installed during Dead Week in December, and despite the cold weather since then, have performed quite well according to OMM employees.
“In the beginning we had a really strong push,” Girnus said. “We were going through probably a keg of cold brew every three days, which is pretty good.”
The kombucha went slower, with one keg being emptied every two weeks, something Girnus attributes to it being a less popular beverage than coffee. He expects its performance to improve once much of the students and faculty return to campus in the Spring.
Kombucha is a fermented, bubbly sweet tea with a small alcohol content that likely originated in Manchuria, and grew popular in the U.S. in the 1990’s, in large part due to the health benefits associated with it. Kefir water is also a sparkling probiotic drink made from kefir culture. It is gluten, dairy and caffeine-free.
OMM Location Manager Erika Hoagland said that the lesser-known kefir water hasn’t performed at the levels of the coffee or kombucha, but that those who have tried it have loved it.
“I think if more people knew what it was, it would be more popular,” she said.
Girnus himself was not familiar with kefir water when Rainbow Cloud’s owner offered it as an alternative to their kombucha, but it has since become his “go-to” drink at the store.
“It’s a great alternative way for people to get into it,” he said. “I kind of explain it as kombucha light. It has the same flavor profile, it’s just not as in your face about it.”
Girnus said that student and faculty feedback has been really positive, with the blackberry jasmine flavor being the clear favorite, and that many people have asked for them to expand the flavors offered. In response, OMM plans to introduce Rainbow Cloud’s rose and passion fruit kombucha flavors as well as their ginger beer, cycling through these along with the current flavors.
