If I had a nickel for the amount of times that I’ve heard people say ‘it was during covid that I…’. I mean, let’s be real here. Covid was truly transformational, horrible and insane at the same time. So many things changed, many for the better others for the worse. Bad service in hospitality anyone? It’s not terribly surprising that the sector suffered most given that so many people left the industry and had to be replaced in a slow and painful process. Many businesses that were started during this time didn’t make it. Others have gone on to be hugely successful. The COMEDY QUIZ that I co-created with my best friend Maxine is one example of something that has taken off since Covid. Cool Hand Coffee from Melbourne is another.

When the pandemic hit, Jack Vickars had just launched his coffee importing business. His focus was on high quality Colombian coffees from famed producers like Wilton Benitez. More on him later. With a warehouse full of green, Jack and his partners were ready to take on the Aussie market. But then the universe had different plans. Driven by a need to somehow get rid of all the green coffee they had sitting around, Jack and co started their own brand of roasted coffee, Cool Hand.

Based in Melbourne, one of the world’s most exciting cities for specialty coffee, Cool Hand quickly found a market that was hungry and open minded. People in Australia are quite spoiled when it comes to quality. Yet, Cool Hand wanted to introduce more extravagant coffees from Colombia, a country that Jack and his partners had visited in 2019. Wilton, one of its most famous coffee growers was happy to ship his coffee to them and so a beautiful relationship was born.

Though Jack and co currently run Cool Hand as a side hustle next to their regular work, he was keen to introduce a wider audience to his brand and thus reached out to The Coffeevine at the end of 2024. Keen to showcase interesting new roasters, I invited him to send over some coffees, though the first round of samples was not of Colombian lots. It was in the second set of samples that were shipped over that I found some real winners.

Both coffees came from Wilton who is known for his experimental signature processes and unique flavours. He is someone who is not afraid to push the boundaries of what coffee can or should be. Even though it was difficult for me to make a choice during the selection process, I eventually settled on a washed Colombia variety lot, which is just insane! This coffee tastes like an anaerobic processed coffee without any of the fermenty after notes that I sometimes find really overpowering. It’s tropical, it’s fresh and it’s really delicious. If you love extravagant coffees that stand out, then you mustn’t miss this lot.

To order this extraordinary coffee, visit subscribe to our Global coffee roasters box in March 2025.