Now would be a good time to open a coffee research center. Today, espresso machine company La Marzocco announced they will be donating $750,000 to the University of California, Davis Coffee Center. According to a press release, the 750K pledge “represents the largest gift to date to the UC Davis Coffee Center.”

In 2017, both Peet’s Coffee and Curtis donated $250,000 to the UC Davis Coffee Center, but in 2018, La Marzocco is turning up the heat. The money will go toward building the first post-harvest coffee research facility in the United States.

From the press release:

“The forward motion of the coffee industry has always been the core of our mission at La Marzocco ,” shares Kent Bakke, International CEO, La Marzocco. “We believe the Coffee Center at UC Davis represents a renewed focus on understanding the science behind coffee that will lead us to better practices for growers, importers, roasters and cafes. Our international team is expanding our research and educational initiatives and we hope UC Davis can be a partner in this effort.”

Also included the planned repurposing of the 6,000-square-foot building now dedicated to coffee academics will be the La Marzocco Brewing and Espresso Laboratory, which will of course include a litany of La Marzocco espresso machines.

For more information on the pledge, read the full press release here. And if there’s some sort of philanthropic arms race brewing, I want to be caught in the middle. I’ve got a great cause of your choosing that is in desperate need of six figures.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

*top image via UC Davis