The guys. from Sloane Coffee Roasters from Bucharest are eager. Eager to show you what Romania’s specialty coffee scene is all about. Back when I spent four months living in Bucharest in 2009, the city already had a very vibrant and well-developed coffee culture but the quality was lacking. I remember that Starbucks was the most consistent place to get a ‘good’ cup of coffee at the time.
Unlike their Bulgarian neighbhours, however, Romanians were quick to adopt specialty coffee into their lives and these days, you can find outstanding third wave coffee places all over the country. Sloane, founded by Teodora Pitis in 2016, was one of the country’s first specialty coffee shops and roasters, and acted as a launch pad for the illustrious careers of people like Bogdan Georgescu whose brand Mabo is also a regular Coffeevine partner.
The other day, I had the pleasure of being a guest at Sloane’s booth during the Amsterdam Coffee Festival where I brewed the delicious Nicaraguan coffee from Finca Aurora that they will be roasting for our April box in a matter of days. Serving this coffee to curious visitors as well as existing Sloane fans always resulted in the same reaction: “Wow! Delicious!” So good!”
Back when we first featured Sloane in 2017, the company was still young and small. It has since evolved to include a stunning flagship café in the capital’s center and apart from its core range of outstanding coffees, Sloane also offers a carefully selected number of experimental micro lots.
The coffee that picked for our April 2023 box was produced by the Ferrufino family whose farm is located in the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua. Since buying the farm in 1992, Dr. Enrique Ferrufino and his wife Silvia have ensured that they work as closely as possible with nature to produce the finest coffees. The fully equipped farm takes care of every step of coffee production including washing and drying the coffee. What’s more, the Ferrufinos are known for providing their workers with fair living wages, safe living conditions and health care.
While cupping the various coffees that were submitted as candidates for this Coffeevine box, the coffee from Finca Aurora really stood out to us. It’s sweet, a bit tart and super clean. It’s a great coffee to drink at every time of the day.
I am personally excited to visit Romania again in the near future to see how much Bucharest and its coffee culture have changes since the day I left in 2009 but for now, I will just content myself with having this lovely coffee in our Coffeevine box.
To receive this delicious coffee alongside picks from DAK and Lucid, visit
our shop starting to order our April 2023 box today!
