We have a pretty simple philosophy: we want to help improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the coffee industry while delivering you the finest quality coffees. And at a fair price by which the farmers and growers who toil for our drinking pleasure receive a greater portion of what we pay.
The current global coffee model is in fact unsustainable. We want to be part of the solution.
to be rigorous in continually improving all our coffees
to use as many plant-based and sustainably certified materials as possible
to make all our coffees
fully traceable
break the stranglehold of the commodity coffee market and low pricing
to build and contribute to programmes that help farming communities thrive and survive
to maintain relationships with our farmers over a long period to build greater stability for them and us
We are all part of an inter-linked chain of producers, exporters and importers, roasters and consumers. The industry faces unparalleled challenges at every step, including the existential threats from changes in the climate.
Reducing the number of links in the chain, narrowing the profits taken by too many middle-men, building more direct relationships and understanding with farms and farmers and channelling more of the value back down towards the producers by paying a higher price for a higher quality bean can make big improvements.
Investments in better facilities, higher wages and living standards and agricultural and re-forestation programmes to protect and improve the availability and quality of soils and land available to grow coffee is essential for all of us who benefit from the wonderful Arabica coffee tree.
There are many independent coffee companies and very good coffee people who have spent many years contributing towards these goals. We would like to acknowledge our partners including: This Side Up Coffees, Coffee Quest, Beanspire, Sucafina.
This is not a Coffee Club just to make you feel better about what you are buying.
We want to create a community of like-minded people that seeks a bit more coffee knowledge, better coffee experiences, and is interested to know the story behind the bean and the contributions we are making as a group to a bit of a better, fairer world.
By sharing knowledge of quality coffee and sustainable farming, we feel we can connect more people to the farm that the coffee came from.
By joining us and subscribing to our coffees, you will not only enjoy great convenience, but you will taste brilliant coffees, learn more about the journey of the bean and the wider coffee world and perhaps some of the social and environmental issues we can address together.
It’s just the start...
We source the raw green coffees and roast them respectfully at our Roastery in Amsterdam.
But, none of the work we do would be possible without the hard graft of coffee farmers, often running family farms that have been passed down many generations. Their commitment even in these trying times to survive, improve, innovate and deliver us our cups of happiness is not lost on us.
Along with trusted sourcing partners we will try to showcase their efforts to the world.
The Arabica coffee tree is grown all over the world between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. Although native to Ethiopia, it has been planted, bred and harvested across the globe for centuries.
The coffee bean is essentially the seed of a red fruit. Flowering and ripening and ready for harvesting each year, roughly between November and March. Although it can take up to 7 years for new trees to really produce a quality yield of fruit.
There are over 800 potential flavours in a specialty Arabica coffee beans, making it much more complex for example than wine grapes. And this potential starts at the farm. Temperate micro-climates, higher altitude, healthy soils, the right amount of shade and picking the fruit at its best moment/most ripeness are all essential.
Then how the seeds are sorted, processed, washed, dried, sorted again and again will shape the end quality and flavour of the drink.
Understanding and seeing these processes first hand helps us buy and roast the highest quality coffees.
We hand roast our coffees in Amsterdam on a 15kg Giesen drum roasting machine.
Using a combination of heat and airflow we can carefully develop the beans from the inside, without over-roasting them on the outside. We want to showcase the terroir nature of the bean and the individual taste profile of each farm.
Balancing out the many sweet, bitter and acid compounds to produce the perfect drink is the goal. And we cup-test (‘cupping’) our coffees every week to check this.
Along with trusted sourcing partners we will try to showcase their efforts to the world.
We choose our specialty beans carefully – we care for their quality, cleanliness, their traceability to the farm and a fair price.
We only buy fresh, in season crops and roast it by hand in small batches at our Roastery in Amsterdam.
We understand and take care with our partnerships in the entire supply chain from crop to cup.
We aim to bring out the full flavour potential of each coffee. And there is so much potential in the humble bean! We source and work with single origin beans. Single origins tell the full story of that farm and that moment in time.
For our Milk Espresso Blend coffee we blend the origins after roasting.
Understanding and seeing these processes first hand helps us buy and roast the highest quality coffees.
We are a proud member of the Specialty Coffee Association.
We want to learn from them and share what we know. More knowledgeable consumers raises awareness and raises expectations about all the possibilities for change and improvement in the coffee world.
We believe in the value of reducing the use of pesticides in the production of coffees. We only source pesticide-free coffees. So, all our coffees are either Organic Certified or organically grown.
Not all farmers and cooperatives have the resources (money and systems) to achieve Organic Certification. It can be onerous to get to this level and it can be expensive. Some of our cooperative partners are working towards this.
But a lot of farmers don’t use pesticides to grow their coffee anyway. They are growing their coffees organically. We support this.
Wherever we can, for our hand roasted beans or our plant-based capsules, we will use organic coffees.
We’re based in Amsterdam, but we ship all over Europe and the world.
You can order what you need to get you through a week or a month and change it and pause it at your convenience. It’s a fully flexible offer and easy to use. We ship everything on a Thursday.
Pay as you go or pay upfront, it’s fine with us. All the usual payment methods are accepted.
And if you need something more specific, just let us know.
Want to get started right away? Click here.
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