Lockdown prompts move to ‘unapologetic’ coffee
Marco da Silva is the master roaster and a partner at Coffefe Roastery, located in the Gourmet Grocer store in Johannesburg
How did you end up where you are today?
Before lockdown, my business supplied restaurants, cafés and corporates with coffee, but lockdown hit me hard. Clients who had ordered 50kg-60kg of coffee a month before were ordering about 12kg.
I had been supplying Larry Hodes’s restaurant, Arbour Café, for about four years. His business had also been affected by lockdown. Larry found that his coffee volumes rose during lockdown. My landlord would not renegotiate the rent, so I moved my roasting machine to a temporary location.
Larry and I realised we could work together. I moved my roaster again, this time to the Gourmet Grocer, and I now oversee the roasting of the coffee beans that are used at Coffefe Roastery — in the coffee shop as well as available for sale in Gourmet Grocer and to private clients.
Larry and I are partners in the business.
The name is obviously a reference to the 2017 tweet sent by Donald Trump. Why did you choose it?
Our coffee is unapologetic, just like Trump, but that’s where our association ends! Essentially, it refers to our attitude — anyone is welcome. It’s not hipster coffee, it’s not toffee-nosed; it’s unapologetic about celebrating the unique nature of all coffee beans.
To allowmore people to enjoy our coffee, we are offering half-priced takeaway coffees during October. We are really doing it as a thank you to our community, which supported us during the lockdown.
How do you decide which coffee to serve in the coffee shop?
We didn’t decide, the community did. When we launched Coffefe we changed the coffee every week for six weeks and asked customers to rate it. We eventually had the top three favourites and then asked the community to vote for their best, so the coffee we serve is the one loved most by our customers. They also told us through the survey that they wanted ethically sourced coffee beans, so that is what we supply and use.
Have you always worked as a master roaster?
I was a telecommunications engineer for 10 years. On a trip to Italy with Siemens, my employer at the time, we went on a food tour. I met a coffee supplier who said they had no representative in SA, so I started selling coffee — as a side hustle at first and then started my own business selling wholesale coffee.
At first, I bought the coffee already roasted, but then I began to source the beans and roast them myself. The process of roasting coffee beans combines science and art. You follow a recipe, so it’s technical, but there is room to be creative, too.
What motto sums up your attitude to your career?
First, the universe rewards action, not thoughts. Nothing happens without action.
Second, be passionate about whatever you do and dedicate yourself to lifelong learning. I know about roasting coffee, but I amalways reading books and looking online to learn more.