Taking the plunge into entrepreneurship is a risky business. Often, if and when you get to that point, it’s the result of a year-long process that saw you come up with many ideas and discard 99% of them before finding that one opportunity that could potentially work. We’ve been there, we know what it’s like. Still, these days it feels like there are more small ventures than ever before.

In particular when it comes to craftmanship there’s been a real revival as of late. People are rediscovering the art of making products by hand and using their creativity and skills to create something beautiful. Coffee is no different. Sourcing, roasting and brewing great coffees takes time, knowledge and determination.

Amsterdam’s rise as a European coffee metropolis is largely thanks to a lot of brave coffee fanatics and entrepreneurs who hail from a large array of backgrounds. Last week we caught up with Florian Hessel and Onno van Zanten of Stooker Roasting Co., Amsterdam’s most recent arrival on the specialty coffee scene.

The Coffeevine (TC): Hello boys. You guys have only been open for a few weeks. What’s it like to finally be open for business?

Florian Hessel (FH): Open is a strange term for us. We’re not really open in the traditional sense of the word. Our business is a roasting facility and training lab but not a café. Actually, we’ve been roasting for about three months but our doors have not been open to the public for that long.

TC: Ok, so let’s say your brand has been alive for about three months.

FH: Yes, that’s a fair statement. Since the beginning our goal has been to reach out to other café and business owners and to connect with them as our key partners. We wanted to give them a chance to see and taste the quality we want to offer and create a bit of a name for ourselves in the community. Of course we also want to have consumer contact but at this stage it is mostly limited to our webshop. Soon though, we’ll be open to the public on Saturdays for various events like cuppings and so on. Just keep an eye on our website for announcements.

TC: It must be quite a change from your previous employers Espressofabriek and Lot Sixty One where you guys had tons of business to consumer contact every day to only once a week?

Onno van Zanten (OvZ): For me this is a completely different ball game compared to where we worked before. We’re in charge of our own schedule and our own rules and it feels really good. Personally, I had less consumer contact than Florian because I was roasting coffees and he was behind the bar.

FH: I think it’s definitely better. We’re passionate about coffee and like the social aspect of being in a café but we’re less interested in serving cookies or cola. I feel like it really distracts from what we love the most. Here we have this crazy playground where we can focus on that one product and experiment with it how we want.

TC: Ok, then tell me what you mean by ‘experiment’? 

OvZ: Well first of all we have our own roaster here.

TC: But you were the roaster at your previous employers too. So how is that different now?

OvZ: That’s true. But I was not in charge of the green bean buying for example. Now we can buy the coffees we really like the most and create our own roast profiles. Together, we cup the different profiles to see which ones taste the best and base our product offering on that.

I just love the fact that I am 100% in control of what I source, roast and sell. It’s a freedom that I only partially enjoyed before, which is normal when you work for other people. I still walk in here sometimes and think “WOW, this is our own playground.” It’s fantastic!

TC: So you can say this is a dream come true then?

OvZ: Oh definitely.

TC: Let’s talk a bit about your location. When we first spoke about your idea to go solo you were considering a café slash roastery in the center of Amsterdam but now you’re on a beautiful square in Oost and the café idea has been discarded. What was your thinking behind this?

FH: We wanted to start a roastery and training center from the beginning but while we still entertained the idea of also operating a café it made more sense to be closer to the city center. Now that we’re “only” a roastery and training center we could also have chosen a remote location in some industrial terrain because we don’t need the foot traffic to stay open. On the other hand, because we’re in a residential and happening neighbourhood we can actually be open to the public on Saturdays and easily invite other coffee people to pop around. That would be more of a chore if we were very far away. I think we found the perfect spot.

TC: Your brand is based on the premise that you want to focus on the craftmanship in coffee. In other words, make the entire process from seed to cup more transparant and more visible. Do you think this knowledge is not accessible enough at the moment?

OvZ: There are a lot of people out there who are doing an amazing job at putting specialty coffee in the spotlight. Whether it’s roasters or baristas, everyone’s doing their bit. The key difference is that we don’t have to run a coffee bar here. We only roast and give trainings and this helps us to spend more time on transmitting knowledge, running workshops and allowing people to see us at work. If we also had a line of customers waiting for their lattes to go, then that focus simply wouldn’t be there. I would say it’s a different approach.

FH: Focus was a really important word when we defined our concept. We wanted to be one or the other. We chose to be a roastery, not a café.

TC: What does it feel like to walk into a potential outlet and present your own product? How do people react?

FH: It’s funny, you know? There are of course a few people out there who already know us and know what we stand for and a lot of people who don’t. The guys at Koko or Coffee Bru were certainly curious to try our coffees and get a feel for what we produce here.

OvZ: I think the key difference is that before we always loved what we did but it was never really our own. Now, we’re completely in charge of what we choose to offer and that feels really good.

TC: We recently featured your Costa Rican Montañas del Diamante in our ‘Carnival of flavours’ February ’15 coffee tasting box, which you sourced from Trabocca. How do you feel about potentially doing your own origin trips in the future to start sourcing coffees directly from selected farmers?   

OvZ: Again, it’s about focus. We literally just opened and we haven’t even finished decorating the place. First we want to make sure we get this right, the roasting and training. Then, if and when the opportunity arises, sure. It’s every roaster’s dream to source directly from people but it’s a long way away at the moment and you have to buy a ton of coffee for it to be worthwhile. We’d rather source amazing coffees from people whose focus is just that.

TC: Where do you see the local coffee scene moving towards in the next year or two?

FH: Well, in the last two years you saw a lot of great espresso bars open up across town and in other parts of the country, many even roast themselves now. What we’d love to see more actually is for upmarket cafés and restaurants that don’t serve good coffee at this moment to jump on the bandwagon and give specialty coffee a shot. Not just in terms of buying and offering good beans but also giving their staff a chance to become really good baristas.

TC: Yes indeed. That is a major let down still, isn’t it? You have a spectacular dinner with fantastic wines and then you get a poorly made coffee to finish your dining experience. 

FH: Right! I think the customer deserves better and great coffee would be a really good thing to offer. But at the end of the day it’s also a matter of focus and sadly coffee is still largely a byproduct for many restauranteurs. Not something they are willing to invest in.

OvZ: I think you can actually take this even further. I think coffee knowledge in general is increasing quite rapidly and consumers will be the ones demanding better quality. They have the power to drive change. And if restaurant and café owners see this change then hopefully they’ll be more willing to invest in training and better coffee.

TC: And then as a final question. You offered us one of your delicious coffees for our February ’15 coffee tasting box when you were only open a few days. What did you like about our service at the time that made you work with us?

FH: For us it was a marketing effort. We are a new brand and we need to get our name out there. You offered us a great way to get our coffee out to coffee lovers all over Europe. At this stage we’re thrilled everytime we get a mention somewhere but in the case of The Coffeevine it’s also the passion that you guys have for the product that sets you apart. In addition, which coffee roaster wouldn’t want to join the likes of The Barn, Koppi, Four Barrel or Drop Coffee who you have worked with in the past? It’s a seal of quality and we’re very happy to have been part of this.

TC: Thank you for your time guys! 

The interview was conducted by Alex Kitain, Co-founder of The Coffeevine.

Are you interested in visiting Stooker Roasting Co. or buying their beans? Visit their website for more information.

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