We decided as a company to visit some European cities this year where we have clients and others where we don’t. The main purpose was to meet and spend time with our current clients in order to better understand their business and the markets they are in, as well as strengthen the relationships we have with them. Part of Selva's growth strategy is to visit new roasters and coffee shops, introduce ourselves and try to start new partnerships.
We started the trip in Madrid. Perry and I had never been to this beautiful city and it was very important for us to better understand the coffee scene in the Spanish capital. The first day we spent time with Nolo, Pablo and Eduardo, the owners and founders of Hola Coffee. We went to Mision Cafe, one of their coffee shops located very close to Plaza de Espana. At Mision they serve Hola Coffee and delicious pastries made in house as well as very good breakfast and brunch options. After having coffee and pastries we went to the Hola offices and lab, where they give classes and training mainly to coffee shops for them to learn how to prepare great quality coffee. After visiting Hola offices we couldn’t miss the famous Spanish tapas with Eduardo, Nolo and Pablo. The next day we visited the roastery that is located outside the center around 20 min drive from Malasana. Hola has a 12 kg Diedrich and a nice organized and clean space, we love it. It was nice to spend time with Nolo at the roastery and try some of the coffees they roast from different origins.
We planned a cupping event with them at the new Mision they opened at the Student Hotel to taste the Costa Rican coffees they got from us as well as other samples we brought to taste with them. It was a great event to share with Hola clients and showcase the new Costa Rican coffees that they just started offering. We were impressed by all the work the team at Hola is doing to educate their customers and in general their impact in the coffee industry not only in Madrid but also in the country.
We loved Madrid and after visiting some specialty coffee roasters like Toma Cafe and The Fix we realized that in our opinion, the specialty coffee scene is not as big like in other cities in Europe and there is room for the Spanish people to drink better coffee. The few specialty coffee roasters in Madrid are doing a great job, little by little they are creating more education and awareness regarding specialty coffee and we hope they continue doing so.
Our next stop was Seville to visit our client Innefable. Seville is a small but charming city, we didn’t know what to expect but we absolutely love it even though there aren’t many specialty coffee roasters or shops. We have been working with Innefable for a couple years now and we were so excited to visit their Roastery in the town of Tres Hermanas about 30 min drive from the center of Seville. We met Omar and Pablo the owners and founders of Innefable and cupped together some of their coffees including our Costa Rican coffee from Santa Rosa, which was tasting very fruity and complex. They have a nice UG Probat, in our opinion one of the best roasters out there. We really liked and enjoyed our visit and spending time with our friends.
After a couple of days in Seville we arrived in the famous city of Barcelona, it was my first time in Barcelona, Perry’s second time. Compared to Madrid and Seville Barcelona has a lot more specialty coffee roasters. We visited Syra, Slowmov, the Roast Club, El Magnifico, Three Marks and Nomad. In general we see that this city is the one that has developed more specialty coffee in Spain, and it’s not surprising, Barcelona is very multicultural and it almost feels like another country.
Our trip continued and we finally arrived in Croatia. Our main goal in Croatia was to spend time with our good friends at Lively Coffee in Zagreb. We had a great time in Zagreb with Marko, the owner, who of course showed us the best time in this beautiful city known as the small Vienna. In Zagreb the first day, we had a cupping event with some of the Croatian coffee people at Broom 44, one of the best specialty coffee shops in this city. At the cupping event we tasted all the coffees from Costa Rica that Lively gets from us including La Loma, Coopedota and Corazon de Jesus Geisha, we also brought a couple coffees from Costa Rica roasted by Hola Coffee and we all loved the Geisha from Daniela Gutierrez as well as the Sl-28 from Aguilera brothers.
The next day we visited the location where Lively roasts, the roaster is located inside of a coffee shop called Quahwa. Marko is planning to move the roaster in 2023 to a new space where he will have a Loring. We have a great partnership and are so excited for Lively and cannot wait to see the new space.
We finally arrived in Bucharest, our friend Mihai was waiting for us at the airport. The next day we had an educational event with the whole Origo team to explain to them about the work Selva is doing in Costa Rica. We talked about each lot, the processes, varieties and the farmer’s advantages as well as the challenges of their coffees. Afterwards we cupped the fresh 2021-2022 harvest that just arrived at their roastery and all the coffees cupped amazing. We were so excited to be able to spend time with the whole Origo’s team, exchange knowledge and share our passion. Mihai, Origo’s founder, had planned a full agenda of events for us. One of the days we were there we had an event with Origo’s final consumers and clients. It was very interesting to see the level of knowledge they had about specialty coffee and how much they appreciate Origo. This experience was wonderful, I don’t think we ever had this type of event where we sat, talked and drank coffee with the final consumers. We absolutely love it!
The last event Mihai had planned for us was an Irish coffee cocktail night. At this event we tasted amazing Irish coffee and cocktails made with coffee. We also talked with Origo’s clients about Costa Rican coffees and our experience working there with farmers.
After our stay in the Rumanian capital we got a better understanding of the specialty coffee scene in this country, we were amazed by all the knowledge and awareness that there is for specialty coffee as well as all the cafes and roasters there are around the city. We were able to visit Trofic, Steam, Ototo, Mabo, Nomonym, Dropshop, Guido, Saint Roastery, Bob Coffee Lab, Papa Jacques, Sloane and Meron. We believe there is a lot of potential in this market and it is one of the best Eastern European countries for specialty coffee.
Our European trip ended in Israel, a very special place for Selva since Perry was born in Tel Aviv and his family is from here. We were in this wonderful middle eastern country 5 years ago and we definitely saw a small improvement in the specialty coffee market this time. The interest in high quality coffee is growing little by little . We visited some very nice coffee shops with great coffee such as Cafelix, Ada Hanna, Hoek, Origem, Nahat, Naima, Caya. At Caya we met with Uri, a coffee professional and passionate that has been working in this industry in Israel for many years. We had great conversations and hope to start a project with him and his partner this coming harvest. We know the Israelis drink a lot of coffee but we also know it’s a tricky market for specialty coffee because people still don’t understand and appreciate it. We hope that the specialty coffee will grow more in the next few years. We know Israel has a long way to go but we hope the coming generations will get more education and will appreciate more the value of high quality coffee.
For Selva it is very important to have these experiences of visiting different countries in order to get to know our clients better, make direct connections with them and build stronger relationships as well as be updated and aware about what’s going on in the different markets. It’s our job to understand our current and potential client’s business models and needs in order to be able to help them find the right coffees and the right project for them that can make a positive, responsible and sustainable impact throughout the coffee supply chain.
