Reviving Robusta, one popup at a time
They’re calling it the Robusta Revival – though it may be more accurate (though far less poetic) to say that they’re undertaking the Robusta Rebranding.
You see, Robusta has always been there, it’s just not been getting the love of it’s more glamorous, (probably) more well known and (probably) more appreciated sibling, Arabica
So why should we care about Robusta anyway? After all, it seems that Arabica is doing a good job of keeping the high end coffee market happy – with the odd bit of Robusta added to blends to give them a little extra caffeine and body. And to cut costs a little…
This is the question I am hoping to answer as I trudge down Camden High Street, in search of the aptly named Black Sheep Coffee – who are staking their business on a mix of very high quality Robusta and unconventional business tactics.
And I learn a lot about the coffee business from my brief time with these guys.
And it’s actually quite good…
For example – Robusta has a higher level of protein, which apparently creates more crema and makes it more digestible than Arabica. It also has more fat, which makes the crema thicker. BSC found that they had a lot of interest from athletes, due to this added caffeine and protein.
Robusta is literally more robust, it grows at lower altitudes, responds better to climate and temperature fluctuations – that’s why it’s so versatile and consistent in supply.
85% of Robusta apparently comes from Vietnam and is mechanically processed – which is not as careful as hand picking and leads to stuff like insects and other unsavoury things getting roasted alongside the beans
And, unlike Arabica, Robusta is traded as a commodity so producers are generally not incentivised to improve upon quality, or produce a better version.
A specialty Robusta market would allow producers to trade at a much higher rate (Gabe quotes about 4-8 times more) as ‘specialty grade’ Robusta. This would (obviously) allow them to make a lot more money and perhaps even start to set their own terms as producer cooperatives, like many of the Arabica producers are already doing.
And this is where I think I see where they’re coming from. It’s lifechanging stuff. Big stuff.
Single estate Arabica is obviously very good stuff, but also very seasonal, ‘coming one month from one place, one month from another’ as they explain. Robusta, which is tougher, would provide consistency of taste and supply, since it can come from just the one place.
Birthing the Black Sheep
Life at Black Sheep, like any other startup, seems to be very exciting and fast moving. They started about 10 months ago, paying their first salaries 3 months back – from this point Gabe describes it as “a lot of pressure”
Bootstrapping is the recurring theme here – the coffee shop we sit in on Camden High Street was built for exactly £540. They borrowed their desks for free (I don’t know who from) and salvaged the bar area from discarded palettes.
Their other store in Marble Arch is a joint venture with none other than Urban Outfitters. To get their coffee machine, BCF called up an Italian coffee machine maker – managing to get their hands on the machine used in the World Coffee Championships!
The Camden Collective provides them with free office space, they’re one of 90 picked startups offered the privilege. They now thrive in an entrepreneurial environment, surrounded by other hungry young businesses.
They use handpicked Robusta to differentiate from lower quality varieties. Black Sheep source their Robusta from the only ‘R Graded’ estate in the world (basically an assurance of excellence by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) – they claim to be the first accredited Robusta coffee.
So, why? Why are they doing it? Asides from what seems like a healthy obsession for coffee? Gabe explains..
It’s not like they didn’t enjoy their jobs (they’re quick to explain this to me). They were all flatmates at university – the original plan? Moving to Brazil “…all the shit we said made no sense whatsoever but involved moving to Brazil”
Let’s move to Brazil!
There are four founders in total. I’m speaking with Gabe – who has a somewhat undecipherable accent, having lived in various spots, including Milan. His background is in corporate finance – he first saw the potential of Robusta when working on the financing of a coffee deal that eventually fell through. He sums it up: “Coffee takes you where finance doesn’t”
Then there’s Max, who’s got the measured tones and reserved demeanour of an Austrian. He was in technology consulting and you do get the impression (especially once he starts talking) that this is the guy who really ‘gets’ the scientific aspects of what they’re doing here.
The guys turn this accent analysis around on me and tells me that I sound like an American. I get this a lot lately *shrugs*
Max & Gabe give their reason for starting Black Sheep simply because they wanted to ‘create something’ and build it from scratch. I can empathise.
The two who aren’t here are Norwegian, actually on their first holiday in quite some time – having fun in a Fjord somewhere. Gabe shows me a picture on Instagram that one of them has taken next to a mountain lake, proudly wearing a BSC shirt that proclaims in white letters to ‘leave the herd behind’ – which is, I think, their manifesto.
I guess trying to rebrand Robusta is a pretty uh… contrarian.
Before they really committed to this thing, each of them of them agreed, on paper, to dedicate 100% of their time to the endeavour. It’s not a contract so much as a written pact, Gabe describes. All the founders currently live in Camden.
And no, I don’t know when the transition from moving to Brazil to making coffee happened, but it sure did – they apparently tried around 275 Robusta blends before they settled on their current one. They now get their Robusta from a guy in NW Kerala called Nishant. Of course, they offer Arabica too – in a blend they call ‘Loveberries’
At the time of writing they have sites on Old St tube station, Urban Outfitters, Oxford Street and Camden High Street. As their sites are all on short term leases – run as pop ups, this is can and does change.
“Roasting is a science, whereas cupping and sourcing is an art” Max explains. They leave the roasting to a small family firm in Lincolnshire.
Try Some Already…
Like any food and drink producer, to really understand them, you have to give what they’re making a try, and so I do.
They make me an espresso, flat white and a cappuccino. Anything more and I’ll probably start ricocheting off the walls, even with my particularly huge level of caffeine habituation/dependency.
The espresso is very smoky, earthy and woody tasting. I don’t claim to have the best developed palette for coffee, but if someone had offered me this at a coffee shop I would have happily drunk it, thinking it were just a very earthy Arabica. I might get a slap in the face from a Cupper for such an error, but hey – whatever floats your boat, right...?
The flat white is the best flat white I have ever had. This, apparently, because the protein mixes with the milk very well. I will have to verify this at some point. In terms of taste I find that the solid smokiness of the coffee cuts through the milkiness nicely. I drink two and inspired by all the adenosine activity, start photographing everything. :3
The UK market apparently still needs some educating. Gabe describes the educational process as ‘baby steps’, but it seems they’re making progress all the same. Wholesale enquiries are on the up, so whatever happens on the retail side, things will probably keep growing for them. He describes the popup experience:“…ending a popup is like breaking up with 500 girlfriends at the same time”. lol.
What next?
On that note, they’re currently waiting on their first non pop up space which will quite possibly be on Camden High Street. Apparently you pay a premium for a short term lease – which obviously lowers the risk of being on the hook for months of rent if things don’t go so well.
I notice that they also get enquiries for Bulletproof Coffee (which I believe was originally Dave Aspray‘s idea). Bulletproof coffee is a heady mix of caffeine and saturated fat – in the form of coconut or MCT oil (Black Sheep use coconut) – I’m not sold on the idea but a lot of people are.
We get to chatting about the whole ketogenic coffee thing (it seems neither of them have met anyone who goes on about it quite as much as me) before both of them have to head off for a conference of some kind or another in central London.
I take a few more shots of the shop before I go, now fully inspired and majestically soaring like a ethereal caffeine cloud. I shoot outside the shop and a small crowd of girls stops nearby, probably wondering who the famous person is inside (this is a regular occurrence that I’ve started calling ‘the false paparazzi effect’)
As I leave it occurs to me that I’m pretty sold on this Robusta Revival thing. If only for what they’re saying about the social implications, then fuck me, let’s get behind these chaps!
You a coffee fan? Check these guys out and get a flat white. It looks like exciting things ahead…