Humanity must plant 1 trillion trees until 2030 to mitigate climate change. Be part of our Climate Mission that we run in collaboration with our coffee partner: Daterra, Brazil. It is part of their Tree_llion Sustainability Project. We are committed to plant 40,000 native trees over the next 5 years on a forest size of 25 hectares of land. The trees will be planted, managed and nursed by Daterra for at least 10 years.
THE BARN FOREST will grow on Daterra´s estate and it is therefore guaranteed that the trees will be managed and protected. The Forest is the most valuable sustainability project we have done. We invite you to be part of this great opportunity to make a change.
Let us grow a forest together!
Environmental sustainability at source can be defined as coffees and processes that don’t have a negative environmental impact. There are many different ways this can be achieved on a coffee farm, but we believe education around agronomy is most essential. In learning about the specific terroir of their own farms, coffee producers are empowered to make sustainable decisions that result in strong plants and a good yield. This also includes support in improving water facilities at origin by installing filtration systems or investing in eco-pulpers.
The other side of sustainability at the source is achieved by paying fair prices to farmers. Fair prices don’t just cover costs, but also allow for investment back into the farm and the community. We often pay multiple times the Fair Trade price for quality coffees. It is the only way to break out of the commodity cycle, offer long-term prospects, and support a sustainable future for our coffee farmers. We only offer Single Origin coffees, as it gives producers a face within the Specialty Coffee community, and the opportunity to network within it.
We would be nothing without our dedicated farmers, who grow some of the best coffees in the world. By working closely with local partners we are able to build trusting relationships with these passionate producers. Our responsibility within these relationships is to be reliable - pay fair prices, offer support every season, and work together to improve quality. More than 800 flavours can be experienced in specialty Arabica beans, and it all starts at farm level. High elevation, great microclimates, healthy soil, and timing are all key - but the highest quality coffees come from careful processing, hand-sorting, and slow drying.
In most coffee producing countries, a close-knit community is at the heart of everything. The prosperity of one farm is often shared amongst the community, while also providing jobs or financing roads and schools. Knowledge is also shared, and it is communication between communities that is creating movement against the commodity coffee market. Through our partnerships at origin we are given the opportunity to be involved in many sustainability and community projects. Projects in 2018 included waste-water treatment in Brazil, the AMACA Women farmer project in Colombia, drying facilities in Ethiopia, processing upgrades in Kenya, and the Late Harvest Auction in Honduras.
We promise our farmers never to blend their coffees with others, and we keep our roasts light. By doing so, we can showcase terroir and the flavour profiles unique to each coffee farm. We roast all our coffees manually on a tailormade drum roaster by Probat, and all our coffees are packed as whole beans for the ultimate flavour experience. Our roast team work closely with our baristas to analyse the performance of every single coffee and make improvements wherever necessary.
By sharing our knowledge we can connect our community to our coffee producers. We aim to be completely transparent and authentic in doing this. While we spend a lot of time at origin, being a part of our local community is equally as important. We host weekly cuppings and workshops, and regularly take part in pop-ups, expos, and events. We also run social impact projects, most recently raising money for the Kältebus Berlin and free barista training courses for people with refugee status.
Our wonderful baristas are the ones who connect our farmers with our community. To offer the most authentic experience possible all of our baristas are trained in our dedicated training centre. So, not only can they brew an amazing cup of coffee, but they are knowledgeable on every coffee we have on offer - from farmer, to terroir, to ideal brew method, and everything in between. We also have a huge network of wholesale customers, who represent our coffees in over 300 independent coffee shops worldwide.
DONATE TREESWhen it comes to brewing great tasting coffee at home, picking your favourite freshly roasted coffee from our portfolio of Single Origin beans is just part of the puzzle. The next step is the one that will really let the terroir of that coffee sing: freshly grinding your beans using a quality coffee grinder. While pre-ground coffee can still taste good, it will never have the same vibrancy and definition as beans that are freshly ground. Not to mention, the aroma of freshly ground coffee is just one of those things that can brighten your day.
Deciding whether you have the right grind setting - dialling in, if you want to speak barista - is the fun bit: a matter of taste that may differ from person to person. Having an adjustable grinder at home means you can alter your grind and dial in your coffee just the way you want. While keeping your brew method the same, grind size is the most effective variable to change to find the flavour you want.
There are a few things to look out for if your coffee does not taste quite right. If your cup tastes watery or lacks sweetness, your coffee might be under extracted. Try grinding more finely to slow down your brew and increase extraction. If the coffee tastes bitter, dry, or dull, and takes longer than expected to brew, it could be over extracted. Try grinding more coarsely to speed up your brew and balance the extraction. Be sure to make a note of the grind size that tastes best for an easier dial in when you taste new coffees in the future.
If you are ready to step up your home brewing, we have a range of grinders that will help deliver the beautiful flavour of our single origin coffee beans. While we all might dream of an EK43 sat on the kitchen counter, over the years we have found that good hand grinders offer better value for money than their electric counterparts at home: From the reliable and portable Hario Mini-Slim Plus to the class-leading Comandante C40.
Four years ago, innovative producer Daterra invited us to take ownership of 1 hectare of their estate. ‘Our Plot’ is a programme initiated to develop ideas that will elevate coffee production techniques and help meet the challenges posed by climate change. Our goal is to develop the best Honey and Anaerobic processing style for the rare Aramosa varietal. As one of only six coffee roasters worldwide invited by Daterra to join them in their mission, we cannot wait for you to taste the results.
Daterra was created with a dream to reinvent coffee production in brazil: focusing on quality, innovation, and sustainability. With over half of their estate remaining preserved land dedicated to the protection of local biodiversity, they were natural partners as we look to mitigate our own impact on the environment. In Earth Month 2021 we began our initiative to plant 40,000 trees and create our very own forest in Brazil! Find out about our tree planting initiative and plant a tree today.
PLANT A TREE TODAYFrom rare low caffeine varietals to exclusive masterpiece lots, we have worked together to bring you Daterra’s incredible coffee for many seasons. Our Plot is our most important collaboration yet, as we seek to evaluate the influence of different types of fermentation and processing on cup quality. In the face of a changing climate and changing coffee growing conditions, processing has an increasing role to play in maintaining consistent quality. This year, we will release two lots, utilising Black Honey and Anaerobic processes.
At Daterra, traceability and quality is paramount: those are the coordinates of Our Plot on their estate! Here they have allocated one hectare of land planted with the Aramosa variety - a hybrid cross of coffea Arabica and the naturally low caffeine coffea Racemosa - to this unique project. Using Honey and Anaerobic fermentation, Daterra will process this experimental lot which we will roast and analyse here in Berlin. With these two methods, Daterra will look to perfectly harness the flavour possibilities that fermentation presents.
BUY OUR PLOT BLACK HONEYAs soon as ripe coffee cherries are picked, sugars and acids present in the fruit begin to ferment. Through the “Our Plot” project we are looking to harness this fermentation in the best possible way: creating beautiful flavour and reliable consistency. Using the coffee from Our Plot, we experimented with 9 different processing treatments: Natural, Red Honey, Black Honey, and Anaerobic, with different fermentation times. In sensory judging, the two coffees that came out of top were the 96 Hour Anaerobic and 72 Hour Black Honey: clear evidence of the benefit of processing coffee with these methods.
The journey from the soil of Daterra to the roastery here in Berlin is now complete! With these demanding and time-consuming processing methods, we could not wait to share the results. Both styles have consistently shown that processing can enhance cup quality and consistency, offering new possibilities for the best possible flavour experience. Available now, Our Plot Black Honey has an intensely bright and sweet profile, reminiscent of strawberry candy and delicate frangipane: with a roast profile that magnifies the flavour Daterra have extracted from the terroir, varietal, and processing.
Sign up to our newsletter and be the first to know when Our Plot Anaerobic is released.
SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERIn November 2022, our head roaster Garreth headed to Jimma, the coffee growing region that is home to one of our closest Ethiopian farm partners: Mustafa Mohamed Ali, a great relationship that is testimonial to what can be achieved when three experts work closely together, with trust and respect.
The farm that runs two washing stations, went solo in 2018 when acquiring an export license. Looking for the right roast partner, Mustafa Mohamed connected from French coffee importer. The rest is history. Have a look at our blog post that explores all angles of our work with Mohamed Ali.
As the mist began to clear and the drying beans were exposed to the warming sun, Garreth was able to see the range of coffees that Mustafa processes in honey and natural styles. Only the top quality beans make it to the drying table.
To achieve that, all cherries undergo the water test in a small basin after picking: the ones that float are not fully ripe (with less flavours sweetness). The floaters are being sold locally. They are not bad coffees; just not good enough to make it to our roastery.
Working continuously on farm upgrades is part of our journey with Mustafa. And year on year, we pay more for his coffees. To support him, but more importantly: Because the quality goes up every season.
The sustainability project that we are working on at Mohamed Ali is threefold. We are working on equipment upgrades, working conditions and the environment. All three aspects are equally important to the coffee grower. We have agreed on a monetary contribution for this program, by way of paying extra over and above our coffee pricing.
Mustafa also works on a reforestation plan around his farm. Indigenous shade trees around the coffee plants contribute to the perfect ripening of the cherries. Farm workers have received further training to help maintain and encourage the newly planted trees.
Recently, Mustafa has made improvements at his station that include a kitchen. Paying a fair wage and providing food for workers during the harvest is the best way to attract and retain experienced coffee pickers.
A significant upgrade we are looking forward to is an improved harvesting system using Brix measurement. The tool shows the level of natural sugars in the juice of the coffee cherries. Mustafa needs to know exactly which sugar levels he needs for his naturals or his honeys. To get the perfect result in the desired taste profiles.
As always, we joined Mustafa for a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Which is so very different from what we do with his coffees! Green beans are freshly roasted on a metal plate directly over a fire for around 30 minutes. They are then ground in a mortar and pestle, brewed, and enjoyed.
"We let so many people around the office try and honestly, nobody believed it was instant coffee... We were very surprised how it tasted" - Ales Pospisil, European Coffee Trip Co-founder
So stop by for a brew, pick up some coffee beans, or join us at our weekly Sunday cupping to taste our newest releases. What we started on Schönhauser Allee continues to define Berlin coffee and everything else we do today. Pay us a visit or take a look at a seasonal coffee subscription to taste the best single origin coffee beans at home.
Every week coffee beans leave our roastery on a journey across the world, supplying partner cafés and coffee lovers with the same incredible beans we enjoy here in Berlin. Last year, we took a step into the Middle East, opening our location in Dubai where the beans have been flying out the door. This year, staying a little closer to home, we looked to the Mediterranean! Is there any better combo than coffee and glorious sunshine?
In everything we do, we are motivated to present the story of each individual farmer, giving them a face and a profile within the speciality coffee community that depends on them. At the other end of the journey, this depends on being close to our customers. As the speciality scene in Spain grows more and more interesting, it felt like the perfect time to bring our devotion to quality and transparency to the country.
Our first café in Spain, we opened the doors to our Palma de Mallorca location in July 2022. In between the beach and the tapas bars, visitors and locals alike have been loving our brews.
Be sure to stop by on the 17th of September to celebrate all the work that has gone into bringing The Barn to Mallorca so far. As our community grows ever bigger, keep an eye out for updates on more exciting news… Next stop Korea!
THE BARN MALLORCA
Sign up below to our newsletter and be the first to hear when our next Colombian coffee arrives!
Masterpiece Subscription
Responsible for the creation and organisation of the annual Speciality Coffee Association of Panama auction, Wilford has been a leading figure in Panamas coffee scene for many years. Comprising three separate farms in three separate regions, Lamastus coffees are consistently ranked amongst the best in the world and El Burro is no different! The El Burro estate is one of the southernmost coffee farms in Panama. With some areas residing inside the Baru Volcano National Park, the estate is surrounded by lush native forest, benefitting from incredibly rich soil and a unique microclimate.
Step 1: 15g coffee - ground at 18 clicks on Comandante
250g water at 96 degrees
Step 2: Rinse your filter with freshly boiled water and drain, add your coffee.
Step 3: Start your timer and add 50g water to bloom. Ensure all grounds are wet for an even extraction.
Step 4: At 00:30 seconds pour water to 120g. Pour in a circular motion around the bed of the coffee.
Step 5: At 01:00 minute pour again to 180g.
Step 6: At 01:30 minutes pour up to 250g.
Order Here El Burro Geisha
When Leyla - the founder of fashion house LALA Berlin - asked if we wanted to be part of her annual archive sale, we did not hesitate! From the 16th to the 18th of June 2022, LALA Berlin, the exciting venue PLATTE, and THE BARN will come together to host a special event.
Whilst browsing the designs of a unique Berlin fashion designer you will have the chance to sip a coffee or just enjoy the atmosphere curated by Berlin’s most exciting events space.
🛍🤎☕️
Leyla, Founder of LALA Berlin
It All Starts With a Brew
We all know the importance of fuelling any creative work and it was back in 2010, after her daily kindergarten drop off, that Ralf first served Leyla a perfectly crafted flat white. From our very first cafe in the heart of Berlin, we like to think we played just a little part in the journey that has seen her company flourish ;)
Since that first coffee, Leyla and Ralf have developed a firm friendship and we continue to be driven by the same shared values. With quality and sustainability at the core of our businesses, we have always strived to do things a little better.
Neighbours Again
So much has changed since those early years and our coffee journey has taken us all over the world. Fast forward ten years - as Ralf’s vision took shape - and we even outgrew our first coffee roastery!
Today, we are very pleased to be neighbours again in the Brunnenviertel Kiez of Berlin, where we roast all our coffee in our newest Berlin space, and Leyla creates her latest designs.
Ralf, visiting café partners in Barcelona
Team PLATTE: Kathy, Arne, Sevil and Gaëlle
Inspired by Berlin
With this long relationship between us, we have now found a new friend in our hosts: PLATTE.
Based in the centre of the city they are Berlin born and bred like us, and have created a fair, open, and sustainable space that helps connect people and ideas.
With sustainability a core value here at THE BARN and at LALA Berlin, it’s amazing that PLATTE are as serious about reducing their impact on the planet as we are. Having championed progressive business models and new ways of consumption from their inception, they are the perfect hosts and true representatives of the creative mindset that thrives in Berlin.
So with a flash sale of LALA Berlin designs and the chance to taste some of the best single origin coffees, sign up and join us there!
Sign UpOur friendship with Paper & Tea dates back right to the start of our activities. And it goes beyond our personal connection between Ralf and Jens (Founder of P&T).
What connects our companies is a focus on sustainability, attention to detail, and of course a striving to find the most special seasonal tea and coffee harvests in close cooperation with producers and farmers from across the globe.
🫖 ☕️ 🌱
From farm to cup, The Barn and P&T are driven by a desire to continually explore the origin, special taste notes, and rarity of our coffee and tea.
Once selected and carefully roasted, hand brewing your coffee is like a tea ceremony: setting up your equipment, grinding your beans, starting to brew the coffee, smelling how the flavours evolve in the process and then savouring the diverse flavour notes that coffee can deliver. It is calming, satisfying, and delicious ritual that we place at the centre of all our cafés.
In honour of our friendship we have curated a special selection for our tea lovers: 3 delicious coffees from 3 different African origins that we recommend for any lover of the delicate and complex characteristics of speciality tea.
Together with P&T we have decided to pair their Essential Green N°300 tea with our Bumba Hill filter coffee.
While the Bumba Hill has fruity notes of tangerine and rose, the green tea is a perfect complement with its nutty, vegetal aromas: The sweet, floral coffee rounded off by the savoury, velvet profile of the green tea. Pair these two together for an elegant flavour experience!
Reflecting our values in sourcing, these two choices are true representations of the origin and landscape they were grown in.
The Essential Green N°300 is produced by one of the first organic tea gardens in Chinas Hunan Province, growing up to 1500 meters above sea level in a landscape surrounded by lush nature and ancient wild forests.
Our Bumba Hill comes from the Long Miles Project: an innovative farmer-driven coffee production model. They work with coffee farming families on eleven unique hills within Burundi, with altitudes of up to 2000m. Together with volcanic soils and rainfall of 1300 mm per year, the growing conditions for coffee are amazing.
🫖 + ☕️ = 🤎
In May 2022 you find a special P&T Box in our cafés in Berlin. It includes 4 delicious P&T teas and a cylinder pot to brew your tea in. Sign up for our newsletter until the end of May and have a chance to win one of the boxes that are on display.
Simultaneously, all P&T Stores have a really cool Coffee Brew Kit from us on display (with Origami Drip Brewer and Bumba Hill Coffee samples). At the end of May, they will also be part of a draw. Have a chance to win one!
We are dropping the Surcharge for plant-based milk. For good. Sustainability is a Core Value for us. We want more people to enjoy plant-based milk! 🌱 🥛
It took us eight years to find a plant based milk that we liked in terms of flavour. A lot of alternative milks tasted overly sweet, some almost like a melted Ice Cream. We could not taste our coffees through those dominante products. We even tried our own almond milk but, again, that failed. So for a long time we said: "We have the best tasting black coffees in town. If you prefer not to have cow milk: Go black!” To us that was the best alternative to cow milk: no milk. Fully vegan and great taste. 😃 Our coffees have amazing cup profiles. Once you tried them pure from nature, you stick with this style.
However ... there are so many Flat White, Cappuccino, Cortado and Latte Lovers in town. We could not turn each of them, and so our milk consumption stayed high. It all changed in 2018, when we decided to offer Oatly Barista Edition. It was the first one that was not overwhelming in own flavours or sweetness. And it did not disintegrate with our coffees! ☕️ 🤎
Enjoy!
In this episode Patrik visited us just before the Berlin Coffee Festival in August 2018. He sat with Ralf in our soon-to-open café in Neukölln to talk café concepts, roasting, challenges of the industry, and the future of Specialty Coffee.
]]>
Ecological Sustainability and the careful treatment of our Environment are Core Values of our work. From the cultivation to the brewing of our coffees. Day after day. It is important to us to set an example, especially in a country of coffee origin. So that our long-term farm partners can see that we are aware of the effects of climate change and that we are taking action. We do so with our entire community that stands behind us! Over the next 4 years, we will plant a total of 40,000 rainforest trees on 25 hectares of land on the protected grounds of the Daterra coffee farm. We do this to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The first 8,000 trees were already planted at the end of last year. You can be part of our mission!
🌳 🌳 🌳
We are not only planting trees to mitigate climate change. Why sustainability management is important in the coffee industry.
According to the 2021 Emissions Gap Report, the gap between what we are doing for the climate and what would actually be necessary is threatening to widen. The window of opportunity for action to limit global temperature rise is closing. We are playing with the balance of nature on which the survival of our planet depends.
We cannot and will not shake the sense of urgency!
Working closely with coffee producers, we see the devastating effects of climate change already taking place. The spread of pests is increasing. Changing temperature patterns are altering the growing zones of coffee varieties. Some researchers have even suggested that coffee could become extinct if temperatures continue to rise.
We have started to identify our challenges that we face in making a difference. The future will be about companies actively managing their carbon footprint.
In this context, building a solid set of data for sustainability management throughout the company is crucial. After all, you can only manage what you measure. Therefore, one of the most important aspects of effective environmental management is data-driven sustainability accounting.
We maintain long-standing partnerships with our farmers We want to bring you only the best coffee beans in the world, but at the same time we want to question supply chains and ensure transparency. How we do this is by nurturing our personal relationships, paying quality premiums for our coffees, and making multi-year commitments to our growers.
Sustainability Projects that matter
With several coffee growing partners we have put into place Sustainability Projects that matter. To take two examples: We have sponsored a water filtration system on Ivan & Rose de Santos farm in Brazil. And we run a three-layered program with Mohamed Ali in Ethiopia.
We value our employees
As a brand that comes from a people-centric culture, we strive to create a safe, welcoming and inclusive community for all employees by providing training, healthcare, special programs and time for personal growth.
For the sake of our planet...
… we are committed to more Sustainability in our Cafés, Roastery and online Store. We are actively working to reduce energy and water consumption, and have set a goal of zero waste to landfill in our production operations by 2025.
We will do our best to measure and then reduce our carbon footprint this year. We have set several CO2 focus areas that we will measure every year from now on and will not shy away from comparison here. Among these are: Electricity, Heating, Water, Staff commuting, Transport of goods, Road transport, Garbage, Air traffic, Packing.