Love Coffee Roasters

We are very excited to let you meet our December’s roaster, Love Coffee Roasters. The roastery was our first ever featured roaster back in September 2015. Now they’re back, and we have shipped some very special coffees.

Love Coffee Roasters from Lund, Sweden, have been roasting coffee since 2009, but the founder Daniel has more than 16 years of experience in the field. Love Coffee Roasters have a must visit coffee bar in the centre of Lund, a unique spot with a great courtyard.

For December’s box we shipped three very different coffees, from three different countries. When brewing these coffees you will be able to experience the great diversity between them.

INGA APONTE

Origin: Colombia, Narino, Tablon de Gomez
Producer: Various Cooperative Members
Process: Red Honey
Harvest: 2016
Soil: Volcanic
Altitude: 2150 masl
Variety: Caturra
Tasting notes: Fresh Tobacco, Mint, Ripe Yellow Fruits, Red Berries, Milk Chocolate & Brown Sugar

Almost all Colombian coffees are fully washed, but there are a few exceptions. This Colombian coffee is a honey-processed coffee, which results in a cup that is very sweet, full bodied with a soft acidity.

Love Coffee Roaster’s words about the coffee:

“The indigenous tribe Inga Aponte was for a long time forced by guerrilla groups to cultivate coca in their territory and they have historically also been driven away from their place of origin. Today, through efforts by state and the governor of the Inga Aponte, they aspire to produce the Colombian Caturra variety. The soils of the Narino region are made up by volcanic ash and the area is highly elevated with lower temperatures than average. This unique terroir gives long maturation and excellent growing condition for the coffee trees. We love it and are showcasing our second harvest with these coffees. Many more to come!”
 

MAGARISSA

Origin: Ethiopia, Danbi Uddo, Shakiso
Producer: Gigesa Washing station
Process: Washed
Harvest: 2016
Soil: Red Volcanic
Variety: Ethiopian heirloom
Tasting notes: Lemonade, Rose Water, Bergamot & Brown Spice

Included in the 2x250 and 3x100 Tasting box.

This sweet Ethiopian beauty is as delicious as a perfectly ripe fruit. About 850 farmers deliver their coffee cherries daily to the washing station in Shakiso. The production is organic and this lot is a grade 1 coffee.

Love Coffee Roaster’s words about the coffee:

“This coffee comes from a new washing station in Shakiso. The station is privately owned by Faysel Abdosh and about 850 small scale farmers deliver their coffee to his mill. By default the production is organic and this lot is a grade 1 coffee. Processing is done by using clean water from the area and drying is done on raised beds. We chose this coffee because of its clarity and very sweet character. It will leave you wanting more and more.”

LA ESPERANZA

Origin: Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Finca La Esperanza
Producer: Eleodoro Villatoro López
Process: Washed
Harvest: 2016
Soil: Limestone
Altitude: 1400 - 1600 masl
Variety: Caturra & Bourbon
Tasting notes: Dark cherries, Cranberries & Dark Chocolates

Only included in the 3x100 Tasting box.

This is the first time we’re shipping a coffee from Guatemala, and when you’ve had your try you will see why. It has taken the farmer Fransisco Morales 39 years to reach the quality you are about to brew.

Love Coffee Roaster’s words about the coffee:

“Fransisco Morales started farming coffee in 1977 on a small plot of land. Year by year he managed to buy a little more and today he has a good size farm which produces great coffees. It has taken him 39 years to reach his destination, of which he is very proud.

The farm is run with the help of his family and he now employs other families nearby to help with the farming practises. Fransisco strives to produce coffees of the highest quality and has been doing so for a long time. 18 years ago he formed an alliance with neighbouring farmers to share knowledge and gain technical support from the agronomists at the National Coffee Organization of Guatemala. This has helped him understand what his trees needs to prosper and produce better coffees. He is particularly interested in soil biology and the surrounding environment and he wants the future generations to be gifted with the wonderful coffees he feels so fortunate to have.”

We hope you will enjoy the coffees for this month. If you don’t want to miss out on our next box, be sure to join for January’s box! Subscribe here, or buy a gift box!

We're making some changes

We love surprises. That's why we’ve decided to make Bean Portal all about surprises too. From now on, not only will the selected coffee be a surprise, the monthly roaster will too. The coffee will be just as delicious as before, you just don’t know who will roast it until it’s at your doorstep. 

Our December’s roaster will be a familiar face. One of our absolute favourites. But you won’t know who until your box arrives.

Don't miss out on our next box! Get your subscription going now at Beanportal.com/subscribe

Stay brewing,

Jakob & Tobias
Bean Portal

COPENHAGEN COFFEE LAB

We are happy to introduce you to our November’s roaster. For November we have hooked up with the Danish roastery Copenhagen Coffee Lab, from Copenhagen.

Allan Nielsen’s, owner of Copenhagen Coffee Lab, interest for coffee came when he together with his friend started a café. He couldn’t let go of the thought of creating his own coffee brand, and after a few years he chose to start his own roastery.

Allan’s interest for coffee wasn’t just a good cup. The whole process of the coffee, from farming to roasting was what made Allan start the roastery. In 2013 the roastery opened in an old factory in Amager (Copenhagen) together with one café in central Copenhagen and another in Lisbon, Portugal.

Copenhagen Coffee Lab's café in central Copenhagen

Two partners, Peter and Christian, joined the team, and at the start of 2014 the roastery was too big for the old location that they had to move to a larger one where they still are located, at Lindgreens Allé in Amager.

Copenhagen Coffee Lab roasts coffee from all over the world, but only the best beans. When roasting they aim to enhance the coffee’s unique characteristics and the natural flavours of the bean, which varies from coffee to coffee. All their coffee is roasted on a Giesen.

Copenhagen Coffee Lab roasting on a Giesen

If in Copenhagen or Lisbon, be sure to visit their café.

We shipped Copenhagen Coffee Lab in November's box, mid-November.

Don't miss out on our next coffee box. It will be a secret roaster. We're shipping mid-January. Get yours now! Subscribe here: http://beanportal.com/subscribe

THE BARN COFFEE ROASTERS

For the first time ever, we’re shipping coffee from Germany! Let us introduce you to July’s roaster, The Barn Coffee Roasters from Berlin, Germany. We are thrilled to have them onboard! We have spoken to Ralf, founder of The Barn.

It all started when Ralf moved back to his home country, Germany, to Berlin after living in London for 10 years, working in both finance and acting. Ralf was still looking to combine his work and passion. Whatever he did before he enjoyed, but not in a passionate way. When he moved to Berlin he discovered his love for hospitality. He worked in a “fresh food place”, just to try something different from what he had been working with before. Ralf really enjoyed preparing food and serving people, but also to see their instant reaction to what they tasted.

He worked there for 1,5 years until he felt he was ready to do something on his own. The year was 2010 and Ralf noticed that there were now specialty coffee roasters in Berlin as well. There were no beans of high quality, the coffee was not traceable and there was no light roast. There were blends, but no single origin coffees.

Photo: Thnattaporn

Ralf was inspired by the quality and freshness of the food at Borough market in London, close to where he used to live. The concept of The Barn was to make everything by hand with fresh and regionally sourced bread from local artisan bakeries together with homemade cakes. They also wanted to serve the best coffee they could find. At this time  Square Miles and Tim Wendelboe supplied beans.

“That’s how The Barn was invented, putting everything I liked into one concept.”

Only a year later, in 2011, Ralf started thinking about roasting coffee on his own. He wanted to be involved in more levels of the value chain. Not just brewing and serving the coffees, but also sourcing and roasting them. For Ralf there were no second thoughts about not having the best quality that they could deliver.

“I’m really obsessed with quality and attention to detail.”

Photo: Marta Greber

The Barn is always looking at improving their product. Whether it might be the roast or the brew or the drink. Ralf explains that he never really looked at the market or at what people wanted.

“I think that if you really believe in something and you focus on it, and try to make it better and better there will be a lot of people that understand you, you don’t have to think about what they may want. If I had done that in 2010 then I would probably serve really dark roasted coffee because that’s what everybody wanted.”

The Barn does not blend any coffee. They want the coffee from the farms they work with to speak for themselves. That is also why all of their coffees are named after the farm they come from. The baristas are fully integrated in the roast work, they write down feedback of what they taste and what recipes they are using every day so that they can track every coffee that they roast. This gives them a lot more control of their quality. They not only roast and cup the coffees, they also see how well their coffees deliver in their cafés.  

Photo: Marta Greber

Today The Barn has got two cafés in Berlin. Looking ahead they will continue making great coffees, and keep improving their product.

In July we’re shipping coffee from The Barn Coffee Roasters. Get your box of coffee - join our subscription. We can’t wait for July.

WHITE LABEL COFFEE

In June we will ship coffee from our first non-nordic roaster. We've hooked up with White Label Coffee from Amsterdam, Netherlands!

The story of White Label Coffee starts back in 2014. Elmer and Francesco both worked at the same café, Espressofabreik, when they decided to start something on their own. It was not a question whether or not they were going to roast their coffee themselves: of course they were! Elmer had some roasting experience from Espressofabreik, and Francesco did a lot of roasting there. White Label Coffee was born.

For Elmer and Francesco roasting is all about developing the unique characteristics and aromas of the coffee. They aim for full development of the coffee's aromas, without roasting it too dark. A coffee where you can feel the flavour of the origin, without any bitterness.

Elmer explains that “White Label refers to a blank piece of paper, still open to anything”. The core of their philosophy is openness: from the way they approach their guests, to their wholesale partners and the coffee farmers. When we ask Elmer about the future of White Label he tells us it’s about developing their product. They want to reach out to more people to show them what coffee can be about. They want to develop their knowledge and experiments in cooperation with both traders and farmers, and do more research themselves. In five years time they want to open a second (or even third) café.

We ship coffee from White Label Coffee in mid-June. Join us on or before 8th June to get your box of coffee! For the first time we also offer 250g-bags next to our tasting box. Subscribe now!

LANGØRA KAFFEBRENNERI

We are very happy to announce our roaster for the month of May: Langøra Kaffebrenneri!

Our most northern roaster so far is located in a 150 year old storage building on Hjelseng Farm in Stjørdal, Norway. Even though they haven't been running the roastery for long, they have pretty fast taken their place as one of Norway’s top roasters. We’ve had a talk with Kristian, one of the founders of Langøra, about how it all started.

Kristian and Renate, with their backgrounds in photography and glassblowing, founded Langøra Kaffebrenneri as they moved back to their hometown Stjørdal 2014. Kristian had in the past seven years worked as a photographer for Norway’s leading newspaper in Oslo. Renate made a career as a glassblower, she started in southern Sweden and later worked in Tromsø. As Kristian tells us himself, in Oslo he was “spoilt with some of the world’s best coffee”. This made him team up with Renate to start their own coffee roastery back in their hometown.

Early 2015 Langøra ordered their brand new Diedrich coffee roaster. Langøra had their eyes on the tiny old storage building at Hjelseng Farm, this was where they wanted to roast their coffee. Due to a strike in New York’s harbour, the roaster didn’t arrive until May. It was now time to move in in the old building at Hjelseng Farm. Together with a beer brewery and a restaurant, Hjelseng Farm now also had a coffee roastery. In December Langøra got their third team member. Idar who had 14 years of experience working with coffee and was also a barista champion, joined the team. He is now head of green coffee buying and roasting at Langøra.

Langøra only roasts coffee of highest possible quality. They roast carefully to enhance the different aromas that different coffees hold. They choose to buy green coffee from producers they find interesting. In August 2015, they visited the award winning farm La Palma & El Tucan in Colombia. Since then they have roasted several of their coffees, with more to come.

A small roastery in a tiny building now sells coffee all around the world. We are very proud that Langøra Kaffebrenneri takes place in the coffee box of May, and we can’t wait to see where they will be within the next few years.

If you want to get a taste of Langøra Kaffebrenneri, join our coffee subscription before the 8th May. In mid-May we ship three of their coffees!

TURUN KAHVIPAAHTIMO

Hi there!

We are very excited to announce our very first collaboration with a Finnish roastery! For the month of April we have the pleasure to ship coffee from Turun Kahvipaahtimo, one of the leading specialty coffee roasters in Finland. We’ve had a chat with Juhani and Samuli.

It all started back in 2004 when the family owned café CafeArt opened up in Turku, Finland. A short time after, the two brothers of the family, Juhani and Mikko started working there. They learned quickly, and in 2006 Juhani won the National Barista Championships. Juhani started attending international coffee events and was introduced to specialty coffee.

Two years later it was his brother’s turn. Mikko won the National Barista Championships in 2008. When he was to compete in the World Barista Championships, the brothers roasted all of his competition coffee in 250 gram batches on a Hottop (an advanced home roaster). They roasted a total of 5 kg coffee, a crazy amount for such small batches.

Late 2008 they got themselves a brand new 5 kg Probat and started roasting in their parents garage. Juhani and Mikko drove all the way from Turku to Copenhagen. There they bought their very first two bags of green coffee from the Danish roastery The Coffee Collective. Turun Kahvipaahtimo was born.

In 2010 CafeArt had a third National Barista Championships winner on their team. Joona Suominen won the competition with coffee roasted by Turun Kahvipaahtimo. Two years later he did it again, also this time with coffee from Turun Kahvipaahtimo. In 2014 Helka Ikonen, also a barista from CafeArt, won the Nationals. Who roasted the coffee? Turun Kahvipaahtimo.

Today, Turun Kahvipaahtimo roasts their coffee on a 25kg Probat. Their roast is light and delicate and they only roast single origin coffee. They always try to stay away from roasty flavours, but at the same time properly develop the flavours of the bean. They believe in staying humble, to always learn and always get better. And according to themselves, they have just begun.

Do you want to get a taste of Turun Kahvipaahtimo? In April we ship three of their coffees. Join our subcription at Beanportal.com/subscribe.

JACU COFFEE ROASTERY

Dear friends,

For the month of March we turn west. We have the pleasure to announce Jacu Coffee Roastery as our next roastery. The roastery is located on the west coast of Norway, in the town of Ålesund. We couldn’t be more excited.

Established in 2011, the name of Jacu Coffee Roastery comes from the jacu bird. The bird is known for eating only the best coffee beans, similarly Jacu Coffee Roastery only picks and roast the best coffees. Anne Birte, Gunnar and Oliver who started the coffee roastery together, spend a lot of time searching for farmers to work with. Gunnar, who roasts together with Oliver, just returned from Costa Rica. He brought some delicious coffee beans with him, that they now roast.

The roastery is located in an old transformer station, and with their background in art and design they also use the roastery as an art gallery. At the moment they are planning an exhibition of the Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard.

Opening hours in the roastery is 10:00 - 13:00 every Friday. At these hours, they themselves brew the coffee. Usually at the same time as they roast their coffee on their roaster from the Dutch company Giesen. With their different roasting profiles, they try to make the most out of each bean.

We look forward to the coffee box of March. Make sure you do too! Sign up to our coffee subscription at Beanportal.com/subscribe

SLÖINGE KAFFEROSTERI

We are excited to present to you February’s roaster! We are back in Sweden, in a town with about 1000 inhabitants where Slöinge Kafferosteri is located. This is where Daniel Eråker roasts his amazing coffees.

In the small town Slöinge in the county of Halland we find Daniel, who is the founder of Slöinge Kafferosteri. A town that doesn’t even has its own banking office, has a coffee roastery that roasts some of the most delicious coffees. Daniel had thoughts on starting his own roastery for a long time, but as he was working as an engineering consultant, the step felt too big.  A few years ago Daniel was introduced to specialty coffee and his interest for coffee grew. He finally quit his job and started to roast small batches on Love Coffee’s roast under his own brand. The year was 2013 and this was the start of Slöinge Kafferosteri.

After a short time, he started to look for his own roaster. Daniel and his wife live in the old hotel of Slöinge, in which they started a bed & breakfast in 2010, Slöinge Pensionat. This made the perfect place to keep the coffee roaster. He got his own roaster, a Diedrich IR-12, and a café nearby showed interest in the great coffee coming from Slöinge Kafferosteri. Daniel’s passion for coffee made him compete in the Swedish Coffee Roasting Championship and have brought him to constantly learn more about coffee.

Slöinge Pensionat might be unique in having a coffee roastery located in the same building as a B&B. Just imagine having a delicious cup of morning coffee roasted from the room on the other side of the wall. We are proud to feature Slöinge Kafferosteri for the month of February.

Do you want to get a taste of Slöinge Kafferosteri? Yes, you do! Join our coffee subscription!

Last date to order: 8th February
We ship: 12th February

LA CABRA COFFEE ROASTERS

We are proud to announce our monthly featured coffee roastery for January’s coffee box. In January, we will ship the first coffee box from a non-Swedish roaster: January’s coffee box will be roasted by La Cabra Coffee Roasters from Aarhus, Denmark! We are thrilled to work with such a talented team.

In the center of Denmark’s second largest city Aarhus, you will find the café and roastery of La Cabra Coffee Roasters. Esben started the café in 2012, 1.5 years later he, together with the current head roaster Mikkel, started roasting coffee in the basement of the café. With their talented baristas, they make it one of the best coffee spots in Denmark.

The story started 8 years ago when Esben had his first really (really really) good espresso at JJ Bean in Vancouver, Canada. At this time, he had no idea that he some years later would be running one of Scandinavia's top roasteries. Today their coffee is sold in more than 12 countries. During the last three years La Cabra has won 5 national barista championships.

Esben tells us he speaks about the coffee and the work behind it, rather than about brewing methods. La Cabra puts a lot of focus on the roasting process, to get the most out of the high quality beans. La Cabra is today roasting their coffee during a long shift every Monday. Starting 2016 they will be roasting two days a week, Esben and Mikkel one day each.

La Cabra is working hard to develop their communication skills to help people explore coffee as the fruit it is. They will keep introducing light roasted coffee in Denmark, to help the specialty coffee scene move forward. In the future they will source more of their coffees themselves, visit more coffee producing countries and keep exploring the specialty coffee market.

If you want to get a taste of La Cabra Coffee Roasters, be sure to join the club now!

Last date to order: 8th January
We ship: 18th January

Kafferostare Per Nordby

Dear friends,

Today we proudly announce December month’s featured roaster. Since December is the month of all things festive, we wanted to give you a little something. In December we’re shipping coffee roasted by Sweden’s best coffee roaster, Per Nordby.

Per Nordby has been in the coffee business for 15 years. In 2000 he moved from his hometown Karlstad, and started working at a café in Oslo. A few years later he moved back to Sweden, to Gothenburg. In 2003 he started working part-time at Caffé Espresso (later known as da Matteo). July 2007 da Matteo bought their first roaster, and Per started roasting coffee for the first time.

After roasting coffee for a few year at da Matteo, Per went on leave. He travelled to India and South America, visiting coffee farms from contacts he had gathered during his years in the coffee business. When the farmers noticed Per’s interest in coffee, they gladly showed him how everything worked, from farming to processing.

During his travels, Per knew he couldn’t go back to “just” roasting at da Matteo. He wanted to do more. Late December 2012 Per roasted his first batch under his own brand. This was the start of Kafferostare Per Nordby.

In spring 2015, the Swedish Roasting Championship was held. Per didn’t make it to the podium. This meant that he didn’t get to represent Sweden at the World Roasting Championship, which this year was held in his own city, Gothenburg. After a closer look at the score boards from the Swedish championship, SCAE Swedish Chapter realised that something was wrong. Late September SCAE announced that Per Nordby did in fact make it to the podium. Not only did he make it to the podium, he actually won the Swedish championship.

We hope you will enjoy December month’s coffee box with coffee roasted by Sweden’s best coffee roaster, Kafferostare Per Nordby.

Last date to order: 8th Dec
We ship: 11th Dec

The Broker Coffee Roastery

Dear friends, hope you had a great international coffee day!

The first months we’ve had two roasters well known in both Sweden and in the rest of the world. Hope you liked it! This month we have the pleasure to welcome The Broker Coffee Roastery.

Johan, the man behind The Broker Coffee Roastery, has not had a straight career path. He lived in the US for many years, where he studied economics and business and later worked as a corporate banker and a licensed broker, which is partly the reason he picked the name of the roastery.

The interest for coffee grew on Johan, and after a few years back in Sweden as a banker, he felt the time had come  for a change. He decided to quit his banking job, and instead focus on quality coffee. Inspired by the passion throughout the specialty coffee industry, Johan started his own coffee roastery.

Johan thinks it’s much more personal to work with coffee than as a banker and he loves that there’s so much to explore about coffee.

Today Johan is roasting coffee of absolutely top quality from all around the world and he is also a judge for SCAE in Sweden. The next thing he wants to do is to start a cafe, where he can sell his own coffee and share his passion.

Most of his coffee is sold locally in Uppsala, which makes November month’s coffee box an exclusive chance for you to get a hold of this coffee. If you’re not already a subscriber, be sure to join the club now!

Last date to order: 8th November
We ship: 16th November

Drop Coffee Roasters

Dear friends,

Time flies and one month has passed! We are now presenting our second monthly coffee roaster. We know you’ll love this one...

Just a block away from popular Mariatorget in Stockholm lies the café of the Swedish coffee roastery Drop Coffee Roasters. The award winning coffee roastery is one of the best in Sweden, but we would go as far as to say that they’re one of the best in the world.

Joanna Alm, co-owner and CEO, has won the Swedish Coffee Roasting Championship two years in a row (2014 and 2015), and has ended third and second in the World Coffee Roasting Championship. This sends a clear message: Drop Coffee are serious about their roast.

Drop Coffee was founded in 2009, but it wasn’t until a year later that they started roasting coffee. They now sell their coffee in the whole world, from Australia to Romania. But it is in the roastery in Västberga, southern Stockholm, where the magic happens.

Drop Coffee believes paying the farmer a higher price for the coffee not only benefits the farmer, but also their community and local environment. All of the coffee at Drop coffee is traceable, and with their clear vision of how they want their coffee to be, they roast their coffee very light, creating a clear taste of the coffee’s origin.

Articles have been written about them in e.g. Kinfolk, and they’ve been named “Notable Roaster” on sprudge.com. Drop Coffee’s café is for us a must go every time we’re in Stockholm. We are very proud to collaborate with such a talented team. We hope you’ll enjoy October month’s coffee box.

Sign up to our specialty coffee subscription now at beanportal.com/subscribe to receive your coffee box filled with coffee from Drop Coffee Roasters!

Last date to order: 8th October
We ship: 15th October

The first coffee box- Love Coffee Roasters

Hi coffee lovers!

We are super excited to announce our first roastery collaboration which we know you will enjoy a lot. Love Coffee Roasters is a small roastery based in Lund, a city full of students, in the southern part of Sweden.

Love Coffee Roasters have roasted great coffee since 2009. Until barely one year ago they were just a roastery, but last autumn they opened a coffee bar in the centre of Lund.

In the coffee bar they have a large selection of goodies when it comes to coffee, everything from a great pour over to a big selection of brew gear and freshly roasted coffee by the bag.

Love Coffee Roasters puts love into everything they do, it’s obvious when you get the opportunity to try their great coffee. The love reaches into the relationship with the coffee farmers and their focus on creating a great tasting, sustainably grown coffee. All the way from crop to cup.

Daniel and Peter, the founders of Love Coffee Roasters, have a wide experience with coffee and have been working with specialty coffee since the early 2000s. Both Daniel and Peter have competed in the Barista Championship. Daniel won his first National Barista Championship in 2002 and in 2012 he scored as number four in the World Barista Championship.

The roastery and the coffee shop are in two separate buildings, the roastery is situated a few kilometers from the city centre. This is where Peter spends his time to get the roast profile they want, while Daniel make sure that they have got the most fantastic green coffee to work with.

We are proud to have such experienced and passionate guys with us this month. If you want to try Love Coffee Roasters' wonderful coffee, be sure to sign up now!