For more than a decade, Ancis Romanovskis was a successful entrepreneur before he turned his hand to roasting. The 38 year-old had sharpened his business acumen in the cosmetics, pharmacy, and beer industries before he went on to build one of Latvia’s leading coffee equipment with his partners, service and supply companies from the ground up.
The switch from commodity coffee to specialty began when King Coffee became the official distributor for La Marzocco across the Baltics. While the partnership helped to fuel the company’s growth, the route into specialty coffee roasting still seemed an arm’s length away from supplying and maintaining coffee equipment.
Although business was quickly expanding, Ancis took a break away from the company to gain more experience in running the roastery at Coffee Planet – a decision that paved his way towards Dubai. It was a time when interest in specialty coffee in the Middle East was emerging and and his role evolved from international sales to managing the roasting operation. After four years, he returned back to Latvia. With his partners, they kick started Rocket Bean with the deployment of a 35kg Loring Smart Roast Kestrel in 2015.
Working as a white label supplier to King Coffee, Rocket Bean has a network of clients and customers that many start-up roasteries would dream for. Yet Ancis soon realized that that he needed to understand the complexity of his roasted product better: “While traveling abroad, I saw that coffee was something big. I understood the business side but needed to understand the product more,” he says. “Coffee is very exciting, you keep learning and it is always evolving. In specialty we have this aim to bring perfection, something that is unique”.
As well as supplying roasted coffee to countries as far as Saudi Arabia, Rocket Bean has found its home in an old sock factory in Riga which dates back to the time of Latvian independence. Following a period of renovation, the space now serves as a coffee house, roastery and purveyor of healthy and quality food for its caffeinated customers under the culinary stewardship of chef, Artūrs Taškāns, who gained experience in a Michelin-star restaurant in London.
The latest algrano coffee sourced by Rocket Bean is produced by Augusto Borges Ferreira, a representative of the fourth generation of his coffee growing the family. The grower was among the finalists in the Cup of Excellence category for naturals in 2014 and 2015. Grown between 1000-1300m, the red catuai has notes of toffee, brazil nuts, peach marmalade, and pears. “It’s Brazilian coffee but doesn’t taste like a Brazilian, it’s really interesting,” adds Ancis.
Since Latvian-born Martinš Drungils from England, recently joined the team to help progress their roasting style further, Ancis says that Rocket Bean’s quest for quality is more cup profile orientated. And his relentless search for new fields has brought him to a more direct trade approach though algrano: “I can see my previous trades through on the platform, I like that”, before adding that in-depth information provided about the coffee is crucially important for him and his clients. He says this is especially crucial for his team as they reach out to restaurateurs who demand more of a story behind the coffee as they brew in front of their dining guests. “They brew chemex in front of the client and we want to give them a guide, like a wine description, in order to give a good feeling to the end customer”, he comments as he eyes up the next business opportunity.
algrano coffee in the hopper
- Producer: Augusto Borges
- Country: Brazil
- Varietal: Yellow Catuai
- Process: Natural
Follow Rocket Beans at:
- Instagram: rocketbean
- Facebook: RocketBeanRoastery
- Website: http://www.rocketbean.lv/
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