Roastery Girls Who Grind Coffee
ROASTERY GIRLS WHO GRIND COFFEE
Two women are behind the creation of this revolutionary roastery. Casy Lalonde hails from New York City, where her coffee career began at the Coffee Lab and Roaster in Vermont. Fi O'brien hails from Australia. She worked as a designer there and also owned a coffee shop in Melbourne. But their paths crossed in the UK, where they both live.
After a few conversations about her previous experiences, they realised they were missing equality in the coffee scene. After all, you are much more likely to meet roasters, farmers and other men in the coffee world. As women, they felt a little squeezed out of an industry they love and have something to contribute to. Rather than just complain about it, they decided to make a change and so started a roastery in 2017. Thanks to which, after only a few years of being in business, women have started to feel empowered and recognized for all they bring to the table.
The roastery doesn't have their own café anywhere in Europe, however, their quality and story has caught the attention of many cafes across Europe and they source their coffee from them.
THE ROASTING TEAM
In the early years, all phases, such as buying the coffee, roasting the packaging, and marketing, were handled by them. Co-owner Fi takes care of thebrand identity, also all the visuals and social media as well as all the partnerships. She is also figuring out how to better share the stories behind her roastery's coffee.
As head of the coffee department and head roaster,Casey makes sure your coffees taste their best. She's in charge of finding the best female farmers and beans. And she also selects the best roast profiles and then continually tests and adjusts them.
The Girls Who Grind Coffee team is rounded out by Grace and Justin. Grace is in charge ofwholesale. She also holds SCA (International Coffee Association) qualifications for barista, roasting and, at an intermediate level, filtering coffee. Justina is the Operations Manager and her main responsibility is order processing.
SELECTION AND PURCHASE OF COFFEE BEANS
What is important to Girls Who Grind Coffee when choosing coffee? They source their coffee exclusively from female producers, farmers, or producers who support women in farming. Their goal is to source and roast coffee from women whose stories deserve to be told, recognized and rewarded. They judge the quality of the beans not only by their taste, but also by their story.
They want to make a big impact and one way they can achieve this is by buying as much coffee as possible from each producer. Farmers get most of their income from larger batches of coffee, not a few micro lots that are expensive and time consuming to produce. If they ever want to buy more unique and experimental coffees they choose from what is offered by their regular trading partners.
COFFEE GIRLS WHO GRIND COFFEE AND ITS ROASTING
Theyroast their coffee five days a week in small three to five kilogram batches on aGiesen W6roaster , which they named Auntie Edie. In their approach to roasting, they believe thatcoffee should be accessible to everyone, so they don't make strong claims about their flavour profiles. They work with coffee according to what suits it and how best to bring out its best qualities. If they want to achieve a fruitier or more floral result they roast it lighter and for a shorter time. By roasting longer, they get sweeter coffees.
They also take liberties in the preparation. While you can find arecipefor each coffee , they also encourage their customers to prepare their coffee in the recipe they want. In fact, preparing coffee should not be stressful, but the opposite.
They offer coffees roasted for espresso, filtered coffees, as well as omni roasted coffees and therefore suitable for both preparation methods. On the packaging, customers can also find information on whether the coffee is more suitable for drinks with or withoutmilk.
CHEEK TO CHEEK INITIATIVE
Cheek to cheek is a way of doing things for Girls Who Grind Coffee instead of just making promises. Paying farmers a fair price is an increasingly popular topic. Sothe roasters created an initiative where 10% of all retail coffee ordersgo directly into the pockets of women farmers. This initiative, of course, complements the fact that they are already paying the farmers a fair price for the green coffee beans.
Coffee producers struggle to make a living from their product. It is even more difficult for women, who often receive less money for the same work done by men. But at Girls Who Grind Coffee, they believe that the stories behind the coffee they buy add value to the resulting products.
AEROPRESS COFFEE RECIPE
You can also roast Girls Who Grind Coffee at home by trying their Aeropress recipe.
- First, grind 14 g of coffee and prepare 250 ml of water at 95 °C.
- Then place the filter paper on the Aeropress cap, screw it tightly onto the Aeropress body and stand it on the cup.
- Pre-moisten the filter paper by pouring hot water into the AeroPress, this will also pre-heat the AeroPress which promotes better extraction. Pour the leaked water out of the cup.
- Place the cup and the AeroPress on a scale and pour 14 g of medium ground coffee into the AeroPress. Tap both sides of the Aeropress to ensure an even coffee bed.
- Pour200 g of waterinto the Aeropress and stir three times with a stirring rod, then immediately put the plunger on the AeroPress quickly to prevent the coffee from filtering.
- After one minute remove the plungerand stir three times again.
- Put the plunger back on the AeroPress and take the cup and the Aeropress off the scale.
- Begin to press down steadily, making sure to push evenly.
- Once you hear a "hissing" sound, which should bebetween 1 minute 20 seconds and 1 minute 30 seconds, stop pushing.
- Swirl the cup to mix the flavours and enjoy your coffee.