Coffee Bar has Brazilian spirit
Santu, newly opened at Edinburgh’s Canongate, is in a rust-coloured 17th-century building which used to be a complex for the William Younger Brewery
We’re currently at the beginning of coffee’s fourth wave.
The third wave is generally considered to include artisan cafes and roasters that opened in the last decade or two. They promote the consumer experience and potential complexity of this drink. (It’s in this period that the ubiquitous flat white was born).
The incoming wave still has a focus on this, but there’s also additional importance placed on traceability, sustainability and fair trade practices. Customers want to know much more.
Coffee business, Santu, is riding this espresso tsunami, fuel led bye din burgers who want their caffeine perk to be ethical, as well as tasting excellent. They’ve just opened the Santu Coffee Bar at 126 Canongate – a rust-coloured Old town 17 th-century building, which used to be a complex for the William Younger Brewery.
“We think it's nice to be continuing the brewing tradition, albeit a different kind of brew”, says Santu’s owner, Washington Vieira, 39.
Their story is an authentic one – they’re entrepreneurs with heart. “We moved to Edinburgh and set up Santu three years ago. My wife, Erin, and I met in New York when we were both living there (i am originally from brazil and she’ s from newcastle )”, says washington .“I grew upon a coffee farm and always wanted to get back to coffee, so we decided to go and live in Espirito Santo – a really beautiful mountainous region in Brazil where they grow the most amazing speciality coffee – and get to know the process properly”.
During their 18 months on the Tozi Farm in the lush Caxixe Valley, this couple, who are assisted by their rescue dog, Panda, befriended suppliers and found out how inequitable the coffee business can be.
“There are so many layers of people between the farmer and the eventual drinker, all of them taking a cut, so it drives the price down for the farmer and up for the customer. You lose any hope of transparency because it's impossible to know where it really comes from”, says Washington.
“We realised we could do it differently because of our relationships with these amazing farmers. They put their coffee on the ship in Espirito Santo, we take it off and roast it here in Edinburgh. The coffee is world class but at a much more reasonable price, the farmer gets paid up to double what anyone else would pay him, and we can tell you precisely where the bean came from and who grew it”.
If you’re buying whole beans or ground coffee from their website, you can choose from four varieties, including Santu Coffee 1 Adelfo Casagrande (with a flavour profile of “citrus fruits, bright and vivid”), or Santu Coffee 3, which is sourced from father and daughter team, Jose and Jacqueline Schiavo (“honey process, red fruits, sweet and complex”), among others.
They also offer this coffee wholesale to businesses that include Edinburgh’s MILK cafe, Fhior, The Eco Larder and The Lookout.
In Santu Coffee Bar, they’ll mainly be serving espresso-based drinks made from Coffee 1, and Coffee 2 will be on filter.
As well as the Canongate outlet, they have plans for the future. "We want to scale up the operation, but also because we can do training sessions and classes for the public,” says Washington.
He added: “But we want to keep the Brazilian spirit too, so there'll be lots of dark wood and plants, bossa nova on the stereo.” www.santucoffee.com