Three weeks ago we featured Alexandru Niculae, World Coffee Roasting Champion of 2016, in our blog. We covered his journey towards the championship, but his journey does not end there. Since 2017 Alexandru is our Romanian Coffee Roaster Distributor. We are very excited to welcome him to Giesen’s global distribution network!
A new roaster in town
As we mentioned in our previous story, Alexandru works as a specialty coffee consultant and trainer in Romania. With a few partners he plans to open up a coffee shop and roastery in Bucharest. This roastery is still in development, but is expected to be finished by July. This does not stop us from providing you with a sneak peek…
An emerging market
Within the last 2 years, specialty coffee has started to emerge in Romania. ‘Before that time people preferred ‘dark roast coffee’, Alexandru explains. ‘People usually drank long shots of espresso and really dark roasted coffees. They think that the bitterness of coffee is directly related to its’ quality. Bitter equals waking up’. But since the emergence of the specialty coffee market, the public is learning to appreciate new kinds of coffee. ‘It is time to provide a meaningful answer to this growing demand, and what better way to do that than opening up your own specialty coffee store!’
How has Giesen influenced your roasting style?
My roasting has changed a lot since I have opened my mind to it. People say that my style is quite unique. I had done a lot of tests with different machines, different coffees and I logged every roast and the colour of the coffees. Using the latest Colour Ceter, ColorTrack, which I highly recommend, as it actually gives you a chart of the color, and not just a number. I use all the technology that I can in order to bring the best out of each coffee.
“Roasting is still an unkown craft work all over the world.”
Giesen dealership
Alexandru’s famous Giesen Tattoo
‘I chose to be a romanian coffee roaster distributor because I like the stability of the Giesen Coffee Roaster and I believe that this is what we need in the roasting process; thermal stability. Roasting is still an unkown craft work all over the world. For example, on this machine you can actually play a lot with the drum pressure, which gives you cleaner cups, more flavor and you can keep the burner on the same setting. There are a lot of people who want to open roasteries so why not give them a machine that can be more capable of doing constant roasts?’
Future ambitions
I have many ambitions, first off, I want to compete next year at the World Brewers Cup. I am also training my girlfriend for the World Roasting Championship this year. I plan on opening my own coffee shop and roastery and I have some interesting projects in Asia and Australia. I also have some intersting ideas in processing coffee, that I hope I can apply soon.
If you want to continue to follow Alexandru’s story, follow his Instagram page: