Climate change, a world that is threatening the bubble that we live inside and up until recently one that has been gently encouraging us to begin changing our ways, to do things like recycle, up-cycle, down-cycle and side-cycle everything into as many things as you can imagine. That was until China recently stopped taking out the trash but that's another story. This story is actually a few years old but it can take a long time for things to catch on, whether that be due to cost or the factories reach and profitability. We can safely say that cups made of your coffee grounds are still rather niche.  

A company called Kaffee Form in Germany is making Coffee cups from the waste produced by your coffee. There are many other alternatives out there that use natural fibres to create multi-use cups but I'm particularly impressed with one that uses the same waste that is generated by the process to which it will be used. The idea came from Julian Lechner who while studying in Italy had thought about the potential, he didn't let the thought of it pass by and 3 years later he began experimenting with different materials and started talks with material experts and scientists and this eventually paid off. A new renewable material was formed, he called it Kaffeeform. 

​Well, what a difference a year makes! Last year’s sunshine and pink faces turned unceremoniously into stair-rod rain and a rather “washed out” look on people’s faces.
 
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. In fact the first 90 minutes of play was conducted under much fairer skies. However the clouds soon gathered, the breeze picked up enough to position the giant rain cloud over Greetham Valley, then dropped right away leaving the rain to heave down for the next couple of hours.
 
The ladies team being among the first teams to arrive at the Halfway House after the downpour had started each and every one of them suitably attired in weather-proof clothing, absolutely undeterred and in fact rather determined to carry on. It was not such a pretty picture for some of the other teams. Waterproof clothing was minimal and in some cases completely non-existent and the persistence of the rain unfortunately led to a few teams throwing in a very soggy towel before completing their rounds.
 
Overall, half the amount of teams that started actually completed a full round of golf, a commendable feat in itself considering the challenging conditions.

​The night then continued at the bar and around the pool table with pictures of flooded greens being shared and many fingers being crossed that we return to the sunshine and pink faces next year.