So, starting with Africa, John did some digging and after travelling around Africa for a while, he heard about an amazing coffee plantation in Uganda producing just what he was looking for. Bugisu AA an Arabica bean.
John was then introduced to another plantation producing Robusta, two species of coffee bean notorious for their use in Espresso coffee blends and used pretty much by anyone and everyone who steps foot in the coffee trade.
If you’ve had coffee, you’ve tasted Arabica or Robusta coffee beans – or both at some point. Nevertheless, after establishing close ties with the coffee bean plantations down in Uganda and an introduction to a farmer in Ethiopia and working directly with the plantation owners, hey presto. John knew it was these beans (Bugisu AA, Robusta Screen18 and Limu Kossa from Ethiopia) that would form the base of what is today’s Rossetti Coffee. Ethiopia’s coffee beans are perhaps one of the best in the world – and it was this long-awaited bean that completed one of John’s bespoke espresso blends.
Four years later, after quite a few experimentations with one of the UK’s finest coffee roasters, John still wasn’t 100% happy with the way they roast – their roasting techniques didn’t quite match up to those of the roasting houses in Italy.
John had to keep his dream alive, so…