One of the things that is such a strange contradiction about America and its recent re-election of Donald Trump is just how xenophobic much of the country is when it was, in fact, built by immigrants. I know, I know, it’s all about those illegal immigrants but let’s not kid ourselves, with Trump back in the White House soon, everyone who does not have an American passport is shaking in their boots. Lucky for her, Melania is an American citizen. Can you imagine what would happen if she wasn’t?
New York of all places benefited the most from its immigrant population. Wherever you go in the Big Apple, you find countless businesses with foreign names, streets that are named after Amsterdam and former mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck and the most diverse food scene in the world. It’s what makes the place so rich, what gives it its flavour. That’s also where Driftaway Coffee fits into the picture.
Started as a coffee subscription, now roasting its own coffee
Founded by Anu Menon and Suyog Mody, Driftaway Coffee is an immigrant-owned and female-led coffee roastery from Brooklyn that started operations in 2014. I first became aware of them after Suyog sent me a little taster package in the mail with the goal of letting me taste some of Driftaway’s finest seasonal coffees of the moment. I love it when roasters send me unexpected packages and I get to discover new potential Coffeevine partners who I might otherwise not have come across.
What I love the most about their story is that Driftaway was origially founded as a coffee subscription service to fill a gap in the market. Anu and Suyog were going through a phase of changes in their lives and were looking for ideas for their own business and after getting gifted an espresso machine and grinder for their wedding, they started to look at coffee from a completely new angle than purely as the conveyor of caffeine.
In those days, Brooklyn didn’t have many places to get freshly roasted beans and this got them thinking and doing. Since then, Driftaway has become a vibrant and pioneering specialty coffee brand that employs a diverse mix of people, sources its coffees from underrepresented minorities and then roasts them to bring out all the best flavours. For example, it works with former US Cup Tasters Champion Julien Grey Langevin to offer coffee education classes.
After getting my first taste of Driftaway’s coffees, I jumped on a call with Suyog and we hatched a plan to get them featured as one of our Global coffee roasting partners in the December box. As a mixed-race and gay immigrant myself, I always champion companies that represent minorities because diversity makes everything more interesting and there are many people out there who simply don’t have a loud enough voice to be heard.
Employing and supporting a diverse group of people
For it’s Coffeevine debut, Driftaway will roast a truly outstanding Pink Bourbon lot from Colombian producers Luis Enrique and Robinson Cuellar. The brothers have backgrounds in agronomy and coffee processing, perfectly complementing each other during the coffee production process on farm La Pradera where they have 13.000 coffee trees in service. They produce different varieties like the Gesha and Chiroso as well as Caturra, Pacamara and Pink Bourbon.
This coffee is a great example of the extraordinary characteristics that the Pink Bourbon has. It is sweet, juicy and a little bit tart. This is the kind of coffee you want to have when you are showing off your brewing skills to your guests. Absolutely exquisite!
Get this outstanding coffee along with its companion from Rosetta in Cape Town as a one-off order, subscription or as part of our Total Package. View all options in our shop.
Pre-orders close on 15.12.2024 / Ships globally on 16.12.2024
