Our story starts here
This is the creative hub of our entire operation. Primarily we intend to imprint ourselves as a leading specialty coffee roastery within the South African industry. We aim at positioning ourselves as best as possible to build the industry as a whole and expand awareness.
A focus of ours is experimentally processed coffee; a new and growing trend within the specialty wave. Our expressive culture is built largely around these weirdly and excitingly processed coffees. It is a niche which we hope to embed ourselves in.
FLAVOURS OF COLOMBIA
DIRECT TRADE WITH
SABORES
In service of transparency we are proud partners of Sabores. Through these importers, who work directly with Clearpath exporters as well as the farmers, we import our specialty, and specifically our experimental, lots from Colombia.
A fundamentally important aspect in the value chain of specialty coffee is the delicate link between producer and roaster. Here our intention is to source better coffees, build deeper relationships with producers, trade transparently, and build as much awareness around the production of specialty coffee as the roasting thereof.
SOURCING METHODOLOGY
In our commitment to this, and our early stages of building these relationships, we have forged a close and personal partnership with Sabores; a coffee importer who deals directly with Colombian coffee farmers. Through Sabores we buy in specialty grade coffees, many of which are exclusive only to us, and so deal in a manner which paints the link between us and the producers more clearly and responsibly.
Additionally, the other coffees in our roastery, which we invest our capital in to, are coffees which have been sourced responsibly. With this principle being a guiding factor in our planning, we buy our green coffee with the conscious intent of supporting positive and sustainable importers and traders. In a broader sense, the goal we are working towards is to build further direct relationships with farmers and to eventually buy coffee lots in directly from the individual farms.
Roasting Methodology
Every roastery has its characteristic style, and we believe our specific style is beginning to take root. What we mean by this can best be described using two sub-categories:
- Experimentally processed coffees: With the intent on stamping ourselves as experts in roasting experimentally processed coffees, our roasting methodology for these coffees are fundamentally different to how we roast washed coffees for example. It is difficult to explain what we mean by experimentally processed coffees as the process under which these coffees go can vary dramatically. Simplified, it can be defined as coffees which undergo progressive and unorthodox culturing between the point of harvesting and drying. This often takes place at the point of fermentation, where the manner of fermentation is manipulated, or in the manner of cultivation. A process whereby the coffee undergoes manipulation to inculcate certain desired flavours in the cup. These coffees, depending on precisely how they were processed and what culturing they underwent, often require radically different profiles to best express their quality. With these coffees the goal is always to preserve as much sweetness as possible, and to bring across those big, sweet tones which generally characterize experimental coffees.
- Traditionally processed coffees: With this we refer to washed, honey, and natural processed coffees. Here our goal is very much dependent on the intended brewing of the coffee. We would stipulate that our ‘roasting style’ is typified by delicate, lighter, roast profiles which exhibit the innate taste characteristics of the coffee and to exemplify the flavours intended by the producer. The emphasis is placed on the flavour of the coffee, and not of the roaster.