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Something is brewing at Whittier College.

The college is ready to show off its new campus coffee brand, called Greenleaf Coffee, which was completely designed by students.

After a campus-wide competition, Ian Hyland, who put together the winning business proposal, and Olivia Esparza, who created the brand’s design, won the $2,000 grand prize for generating Greenleaf Coffee and the brand’s look — green being the signature color and the logo resembling a plant connected to the sun.

The winning proposal and design were selected by coffee industry professionals to be the brand of the 2023 harvest from the college’s coffee orchard.

Whittier College’s orchard includes coffee trees as well as other California native plants. (Photo courtesy of Cinzia Fissore)

Ian Hyland and Olivia Esparza won the competition of creating a business proposal and design for Whittier College’s coffee brand for the 2023 harvest. (Photo courtesy of Cinzia Fissore)

The 2023 harvest of coffee cherries in Whittier College’s orchard. (Photo courtesy of Cinzia Fissore)

Olivia Esparza, who graduated from Whittier College in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, made the logo design for Greenleaf Coffee — the college’s coffee brand. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Esparza)

Ian Hyland, rising senior at Whittier College, made the business proposal for Greenleaf Coffee — the college’s coffee brand. (Photo courtesy of Ian Hyland)

Getting to the winners involved competition, collaboration, graphic design and imagination.

During the competition, designers would work based on the name that the marketer had added to their proposal. Esparza, who graduated this past year with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, said she decided to pick two proposals to create designs for, which included the winning proposal and then her winning design for Greenleaf Coffee.

Esparza said the idea in creating the logo was to create something that would not only look good and represent the brand on the coffee bag, but would also look good on other items, such as stickers. She considered different fonts and symbols that would best illustrate the Greenleaf name.

“I wasn’t expecting to win, but it was a good experience and I got a piece out of it for my portfolio. It was definitely a super nice surprise to win for sure,” Esparza said.

Hyland, a rising senior, is majoring in business administration with a minor in graphic design. With an interest in agriculture and plants, combining it with the business side of the industry made Hyland interested in participating in the competition.

“The fact that they’re kind of doing something revolutionary by growing above the equator, all of those things sort of piqued my interest,” he said, “and that’s why I entered.”

When creating his business proposal, Hyland thought it would be a good idea to align the brand to Whittier College, since it is where the coffee is grown. He picked Greenleaf as a potential name because of how well-known the city street is for its shops and more, he said.

The name also ended up paying homage to the namesake of the college, John Greenleaf Whittier.

“What was important to me was creating an honest brand with an honest message,” he said. “I think honesty in corporations and in companies is something that’s very important – it’s important for the company, but it’s also important to consumers.”

Having an honest approach is one factor that Hyland believes helped his proposal get picked as the winner.

“It was very exciting and nerve-racking, I just couldn’t believe it,” Hyland said about winning the competition. “Some of the designs were so amazing, too; not saying that ours wasn’t amazing, but I was blown away. I definitely didn’t think I was going to win, but to have won it was just a huge surprise and it made my year.”

Hyland said that seeing the product come to life through Esparza’s design really impressed him. He also learned about creating a concise and detailed business proposal, adding that his professors Kristen Smirnov and Cinzia Fissore guided him throughout the process.

“I’m really grateful for Whittier,” Hyland said. “I’m grateful to Whittier and the opportunities they give me.”

What started it all? It was Whittier College’s orchard – which is open for all staff, students and community members to visit and host events.

Established in 2019, it is home to 64 coffee plants intermixed with native species, such as California poppies and avocado trees for shade and wind protection.

The orchard derived from the observation that coffee had started to be grown in Southern California commercially, and Fissore, professor of biology and environmental science, and former Associate Professor of History Natale Zappia, wanted to incorporate the work at the college.

“We wanted to develop, not just an experimental orchard for our students, but also to start developing a set of educational and also hands-on opportunities,” Fissore said. “Here we are about four years later, and we’ve been successful. We are currently harvesting the coffee cherries, and this is our second harvest.”

One coffee plant produces about a pound of roasted coffee. It’s not enough for the campus coffee to be sold commercially but it makes the coffee-centric program at Whittier more of an opportunity for students to collaborate and make connections with members of the coffee industry in California, she said.

When the harvest is over later in the fall, in partnership with San Francisco Bay Coffee Company, the coffee beans will be roasted and cupped – which is done to learn of the flavor notes that are in the coffee.

As part of the interdisciplinary focus of the program, Fissore thought it would be a good idea to start packaging the coffee — but wanted it to be developed by students.

In collaboration with Smirnov, associate professor of marketing, and Jenny Herrick, associate professor of art, Fissore created the competition.

The competition was funded by a $300,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations – which helps fund projects in private higher education. The grant also helped connect with partners in the coffee grower agricultural community, create 10 fellowships and internships for students.

Fissore said that the competition was a way for students to get involved with the orchard in a different way, to illustrate the interdisciplinary work available in the real world through the lens of coffee, one of the most traded commodities in the world.

“To me, it was really important for the competition to show that to students, in particular, that regardless of their major, they do have the skill set, they do have the foundational knowledge that is needed in the (coffee) industry,” she said.

Because the 2023 harvest is ongoing, the exact product design and packaging are still being refined. Fissore said she plans to pair the coffee beans with fundraising events and other opportunities, hopefully in the fall. The competition is also likely to reoccur for future harvests.

“The idea is certainly not to sell these coffees in stores,” she said. “We don’t have the volume, we’re never going commercial but instead to auction it or sell it at fundraising events and we intend to use all the profits to support future students’ activities pertaining to coffee.”

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