Grounded Craft Coffee started on a small sample roaster in the living room of its founders’ apartment, with “a few unhappy neighbours” along the way. It later moved to a production roaster and now roasts and packs its coffee every week at a micro-roastery in Provenierswijk, Rotterdam. The coffee is roasted “slow and lighter than average”, and Grounded buys only specialty beans, sourced along ethical and traceable lines.

Each coffee is labelled for espresso, filter or “omniroast”, and most come in a 250g bottle that can be refilled, or in a 1kg recyclable pouch. The espresso side includes Bantu Blossom, a natural SL14 and SL28 from smallholders in Uganda’s Rwenzori mountains, Diamond from the Cocarive cooperative in Minas Gerais, and a Kenyan from the Kirura factory in Kiambu, roasted for both espresso and filter. Filter lots lean towards Colombian processing experiments: Wild Wild Wush, a Wush Wush from Finca Monteverde in Tolima given 60 hours of oxidation and 60 of anaerobic fermentation, and Peaches & Cream from Jhon Rodriquez at Finca Rio Negro. The Ethiopian Lions, from Haro Wachu in Guji and Gutiti in Yirgacheffe, are roasted for both, and the decaf is El Dragón, a sugarcane-processed group lot from Buesaco in Nariño.

For cafés, restaurants, offices and shops, Grounded offers coffee supply, barista training, equipment and workflow advice, and the chance to develop a house flavour profile at the cupping table.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Grounded Craft Coffee