Fantastic filter February with Tim Wendelboe

Fantastic filter February? Bean Bros brings you great coffee from Tim Wendelboe…so, YES!
Enjoy your brews and share your photos with us on Instagram!
We caught up with Tim to talk about his team, his business, and the future! Please enjoy the following interview.

What are the core values for the business as regards coffee roasting and experience at your coffee bar?
I would say in general that we are trying to source what we believe are some of the best coffees we can find and deliver exceptional coffee experiences to our guests and customers. We want to ensure that our product is always consistent and at a high level of quality so that our customers and guests will always be able to recognise our quality and style.
We try to emphasise the uniqueness of each lot we purchase by always roasting, serving and selling the coffees as individual lots. What is really important is that the farmers are treated with respect and as our business partners. We want to make sure they are paid well so that they can progress and develop in the same pace as our business in Norway.

What are the core values for the business as regards responsibility across the production chain?
We work hands on with the farmers we buy coffee from in order to help them improve and be able to consistently produce the coffee qualities that we want to buy. By doing this we have been able to commit to buying more coffees from each farmer and also pay a good price for the coffees so that the farmers are able to invest in infrastructure and equipment that they need in order to improve the coffee quality.
We also work with helping improve the agricultural practices in order to make the production more sustainable but also in order to improve the quality. A small example would be that we have succeeded in persuading most of the farmers we buy from to stop using herbicides and instead cut weeds with manual labour or machines. This improves the soil quality over time which again will improve the coffee quality.
It is also important to us that our team in Norway has a job that they love going to. Yes, of course we demand top level work to be done, but we are also trying to be generous and flexible with our team members and we try to pay them well for the job that they are doing.

What difference do you want to make within the industry in the coming years?
I would love to be able to change the way coffee is grown around the world. Moving away from pesticides, herbicides and mineral fertilizers which are depleting the soils, in to a more regenerative agriculture.
That is why I bought a farm in Colombia where I am trying to figure out how to convert really terrible soil to a healthy organic and natural farm that produces good quality coffee in good amounts. Hopefully I will succeed.
I also hope that by being more transparent about the prices we pay for our coffees we can inspire other companies to invest more in the coffee farmers that they are 100% relying on.

Who are the team at Tim Wendelboe?
We are a team of 13 people at the moment. We have 2 roasters / baristas; Marit and Fotios a third roaster and also roast trainer and project manager, Ben.
Kristina is our wholesale manager and Krissa is our digital and marketing manager. Then of course our veteran and very important bar manager Stephanie who takes care of our coffee shop and has been with us almost 9 years!
We have a team of baristas that are doing the hard work of giving great coffee experiences with a big smile to all our guests every day. They assist with other things like packing coffee in the roastery and working at events.
Rikke, one of our baristas, will start doing courses for wholesale and consumer customers this year and Anders will be doing more customer support.
We are a small team and a small business, so everyone has to contribute in various ways. I try to find each person’s strength and push them in to doing more of what they are good at.

What does it take to be a part of this team?
You have to be a service minded person that understands the value of making our guests and customers feel that they are taken care of. You have to be willing to work hard, follow our systems and in general have a positive attitude that focuses on solving problems rather than complaining about them. But the most important part if you want to be part of our team is to actually send us an application. It is very difficult to know that you want to work for us if you don’t let us know in some way or another!

Is your farming project where you are currently most invested?
I am spending about 2+ months a year on the farm but I will say that I am most invested in my business here in Norway and trying to develop that in to a more sustainable business in the long run.
Yes, farming is also my passion, but I tend to spend all my energy on farming while I am at the farm and not so much when I am in Norway. This way I get more focused and I think it is more effective. I feel that since I put my name on my shop and coffee, I have the full responsibility to make sure that every cup and bean we sell is of the best possible quality and I take it personally when we get complaints or when we don’t deliver the quality that our guests and customers expect from us.

What do you want to achieve in the next few years?
I would like to be able to grow our company, selling more coffee beans. This would enable us to buy more coffee from the farmers we work with, make sure our team has a more exciting workplace to go to and that we can have more people pursue a long-term career in our company in jobs they love doing! We also moved our roastery to a bigger space last year, so our capacity is increased. It would be great to use that capacity!
I also hope that within the next 3 years my farm will start producing some coffee. That would be sweet!