Calendar Coffee in our January 2023 Guest Roast Subscription Box

Welcome to 2023! We are starting with a real statement in January, featuring our first roaster from Ireland, Calendar Coffee! You are in for a treat! Speaking with them this month for our feature, you get a real sense of what a great team they are and how much care they have put in to getting great coffees roasted for you!

Thank you for your continued custom and we wish you all the very best for the year ahead!

Please tell us a little about the team

We are a small team of 5 people. Dan and myself (Zarah!) founded the company and we have 2 other amazing team members working in roasting and production. We also have a Sustainability Manager called Keith who is dedicated to improving sustainability within the business.

Are there any achievements that make you proud?

There’s not one particular thing, but I would say I’m proud that we’ve managed to run Calendar exactly the way we wanted to since day 1. Hand on heart, we’ve never compromised on quality or our commitments. It makes me proud to see the company succeed while maintaining our core values.

Do you have any objectives that you are focussed on making happen?

We spent much of 2022 working on our company strategy for the next 3 years and figuring out what the future of Calendar looks like. We’ve always strived to create a company that does some good in the world, but with everything that comes with running a small business, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. So we set out to create a roadmap with clearly defined goals and to help guide us into the future. There’s a lot of work ahead but we’re entering the new year more determined than ever!

How did you come to choose Probat as your roaster?

Many moons ago, Dan used to be Head Roaster of Workshop Coffee in London and he started out on a P12 before they upgraded to a P25. He’s only ever roasted on a Probat so it’s naturally his first choice! He always says it would be like learning to roast all over again if we ever changed machines. They’re also super reliable and we know how to get the results we want, so it’s a big thumbs up from us!

With seasonal choices and knowing who produces the coffee being important to you – how does this factor into the choices you make?

We believe keeping the green coffee fresh is key to quality. We’re at the stage now where we have our core producers and co-op’s we buy from and we can be fairly confident in predicting how those coffees will roast and age over time.

How do you enjoy being part of your local coffee community and what does this involve?

We have a wonderful coffee community here in Galway which we’re delighted to be a part of. It’s been growing fast over the last number of years and is made up of many independent cafes and customers alike. Together, we organise coffee events, competitions and cuppings. In my experience, it’s much better to work together and support each other - that way, everyone benefits and can succeed!

Please explain the name, for our subscribers, what’s the story!

Calendar is all about celebrating the seasonality that exists within coffee. This means the coffees and origins we work with are constantly changing, depending on which countries are harvesting and the coffees that taste best. We aim to roast a coffee within a specific time frame before any age-y characteristics have a chance to creep in. All coffee will age eventually and lose sweetness, often tasting woody and papery. We want to avoid this at all costs, so we aim to roast our coffees 6-11 months post harvest (depending on the origin) and each coffee only lasts 3 months in the range.

Your bags are bright and joyful, is there a story here too?

You’ve just described our brilliant illustrator there, bright and joyful! :) Cadi Lane is our good friend and illustrator based in Cardiff, Wales. She is the brains behind the artwork and such a joy to work with. We wanted something fun and playful for our packaging, and we love how every bag is different.

Great selection for this month, what’s in the box?

First up, Khalid Shifa is an exceptional coffee! It’s not only the first honey processed lot we’ve roasted from Africa, it's the first Ethiopian coffee we've purchased from a single producer. What's more, it’s unlike anything we’ve tasted from this part of the world before! Rosendo Domingo is from a tiny farm in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. This is probably one of our favourite regions to buy from because there’s such diversity to be discovered here. Rosendo is a trained agronomist and a very experienced producer. We love this coffee because it’s just so delicious and easy to drink!

Any closing remark you would like to make to our subscribers?

It’s the biggest dream come true that we get to do this job, and we are always grateful for the support! Thank you for having us in this month’s feature and sending much love from the west coast of Ireland!