Paso Paso is a Hanover roastery owned by the farmers who grow its coffee, together with its founder and two partners. The idea is “Farmer Owned Coffee”: the producers bought shares in the company, take part in its monthly decisions and receive dividends, so they earn once when their green coffee is exported and again when it is roasted and sold in Europe. Every purchase has to make economic sense for both sides, and the green coffee is paid for in full at export.

The founder and managing director, Bram de Hoog, spent more than seven years in the green coffee trade, including as sourcing manager for the importer Ally Coffee, and he roasts the coffee himself on a Giesen roaster. The farmers’ investment bought an existing roastery in the Linden-Limmer district from Thomas Brinkmann, a former roasting champion who kept a share and still runs his coffee school in the same building. Paso Paso launched in 2024 and won the SCA Best Branding award at World of Coffee in Copenhagen for the brand and packaging designed by Groowup, the agency of fellow shareholder Jasper van Gils.

The coffees come from Silvio Sánchez on Cerro Mogotón in Nicaragua, Diego Baraona at Los Pirineos in El Salvador, Diego Robelo at Aquiares and Jorge Vásquez at Roble Negro in Costa Rica, and the Syoum family in Ethiopia. The range runs from light filter roasts to two espresso blends, Café de la Casa and the dark Corazón Oscuro, and a decaf from the Syoum family’s Guji natural, decaffeinated with the sugarcane process. For the 2026/27 season Paso Paso raised the price it pays its farmers by 10 to 30 per cent. The roastery welcomes visitors for coffee and runs small barista courses with a roastery tour.

Partner cafés

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Paso Paso