This is the story of Michael Mrozek, coffee consultant and roaster from Hamburg Germany, about the foundation of Namibian Coffee Roasters. They participated in the Tourism Expo in Windhoek last June, moving their whole roasting facility. Including their Giesen W6 Coffee Roaster.
Coffee in Namibia
When Michael first came to Namibia in 2013 there wasn’t much of quality focussed coffees around. The standard is imported coffee from South Africa and Europe and Kloof Koffie a mixture of zichories and coffee. Back then there was only one roasting company, Slowtown Coffee from Swakopmund. It was the mission of Michael Mrozek to assist Namibian Coffee Roasters to start their roasting business.
Founding Namibian Coffee Roasters
After being to Europe Robert Sibold – founder of Namibian Coffee Roasters – realised that it was almost impossible to find good coffee in Namibia. His first plan was to roast for himself and the guests of his parents Lodge which is in the bush close to the town Omaruru. Through the Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei in Hamburg, where he also took a two weeks training, he purchased everything necessary to start a artisan roastery. Though he realised that roasting coffee isn’t just making beans brown, his first attempts turned out not to be useful and he started searching for an experienced roaster.
Coffee and roasting trainings
At his first stay Michael Mrozek did research on how the Namibians drink their coffee. He also sourced the beans and created the roast profiles on the Giesen W6. He also assisted with the packaging design, the website and gave trainings on the Giesen W6 roast machine and also on the Da La Corte Espressomachine. Since then Namibian Coffee Roasters grew amazingly fast and is providing its coffee to several cafes, bars, and restaurants in Namibia.
Tourism Expo in Windhoek
It was amazing to see the growth happened without much of advertising and promotion. Actually there was none until this years Tourism Expo in Windhoek. It were the clients of Namibian Coffee Roasters that asked to promote their coffee at the Expo and a plan was made to move the whole roasting facility to Windhoek. Its been quite some work to load the Giesen W6 on the pick up without a forklift. Anyhow, they managed to bring it safely all the way which is about 250 Km, to Windhoek and set it up.
“The booth was a blast!” says Michael Mrozek, “We did live roasting and certainly also made drinks on the espresso machine. The feedback was enormous and I wonder how long it will take for Namibian Coffee Roasters to upgrade to a bigger Giesen roaster.”
About our Giesen W6 Coffee Roaster
Michael Mrozek: “Speaking of Giesen I must say their machines are extremely efficient and reliable. Though on my second stay in 2014 we had some technical issues which gave us a hard time. Through the extremely fast service and the assistance of the wonderful Giesen team we were able to repair the machine. Not such a big fun when you are somewhere in the bush of Africa and parts are far away in Europe, neither to say non existent in Namibia.”
Until today the Giesen W6 is running perfectly well and since the expo in June the volume has doubled up again.
Robert recently mentioned how much he loves roasting coffee, its one of the best things he has ever started and he is absolutely happy to receive such an enormous feedback for his coffee from his clients.
Besides the project in Namibia Michael Mrozek is working for Black Delight Kaffee in Hamburg and has assisted in several other projects.
Cet article a 2 commentaires
I wish to get in touch on my return trip to Namibia in June, since I plan to set-up a coffee shop. Where is the Coffee Roaster located?
Hello! I checked it for you and all the details are on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NamibianCoffeeRoasters/