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When Sharo first
started his business,

Man Met Bril Koffie

was pretty much the

only company selling

specialty coffee in

town.

Thus, Sharo decided to find out for himself. This
was a little before the YouTube era. He learned ev-
erything about specialty coffee through Sweet Maria’s
website, one of the pioneers that sells green coffee
and home roasting equipment, and from the website,
he found a very small roaster that can roast only 250
grams of coffee. From there, he began his career in
the coffee industry.
At first, Sharo roasted beans at somebody else’s
place for about a year, but pretty quickly, he started
looking for his own location. At that time, Rotterdam
hadn’t yet formed any culture for coffee. Nobody knew
about specialty coffee, nor did they care. Many of Sha-
ro’s friends who were in the coffee industry moved to
Amsterdam or Berlin, the cooler places to work and to
Jacko van Dijke,
the community manager of the Residency Program open coffee shops. However, Sharo’s thought was the years, Sharo has been able to expand his coffee bar and Apart from being united with the local coffee busi-
opposite. He said: “I personally think Rotterdam is a roastery with adjacent buildings as his business is ness, Sharo takes the local residents and the neighbour-
great city, but I also know it can be a horrible city to booming. However, still, he takes the local coffee com- hoods seriously just the same. At the end of the day, they
live in. I want to do something good for Rotterdam, and munity as well as the city’s residents at heart. are the people who will come daily and enjoy all the hard
that will make the city a better place and more fun.” In the last five years, Sharo has witnessed the work Sharo and his team has put in a cup of coffee. “I
Soon, Man Met Bril Koffie was born. “Man met bril growth of the coffee scene in Rotterdam. When he first want to make this environment better. I love the place
koffie” means “coffee by the man with glasses” in En- started his business, Man Met Bril Koffie was pretty where I live, and I love the people around me. I want to
glish. It was a nickname Sharo got when he was work- much the only company selling specialty coffee in town. enjoy that space more with them.” Sharo told me.
ing in the restaurant due to him wearing his eyeglasses Now, there are six. Moreover, the number of profes- In order to make his coffee shop better blend into
all the time, yet it stuck. With direct partnerships with sional coffee roasters is rising rapidly, too. However, the local community, Sharo has tried to make his space
farmers from Central and South America and Africa there are still problems since the market has yet to engaging in many different ways, from working with
and roasting the beans by himself, Sharo has slowly mature. As Sharo claimed, the whole coffee environ- the locals to hold all kinds of events. “We focus on
built up his brand and has become one of the first ment in Rotterdam is a little weird, as there is a vast making it a diverse place. You can call it the third place
specialty coffee brands in Rotterdam. Sustainable, supply but only a little demand. The specialty coffee or whatever you want, but it’s where people can just
honest, and delicious coffee is what Man Met Bril Kof- roastery may need to sell coffee beans to offices or come and enjoy a good coffee and do other things. They
fie stands for. Now, people all around the world can restaurants that probably don’t really understand it to can enjoy a meal here, have a meeting here, or hang out
purchase a variety of coffee beans on the official web- keep the business going, but Sharo confirms that he did with their kid here. And that’s something that I really
site, and they are delivered to many cities in the coun- see a lot of quality coffee popping up. “It’s a huge like about it.”
try as well as outside. In addition to the roastery, change that the coffee scene is going through in the To keep up the good work of the roastery and the
Sharo also has a coffee bar – the head office in the city. So that’s great.” he said. Nevertheless, Sharo was coffee shop, Sharo realizes it is now the time for the
middle of the Oude Noorden, in the Hofboogen of too modest to take all the credit. “I think we’re doing next step – the coffee hotel. He is not just satisfied
Rotterdam. Customers not only can enjoy the delicious really well. I wouldn’t call myself a leader of specialty with nurturing the local coffee culture. He wants to
coffee but also have breakfast and lunch there while coffee in Rotterdam. I don’t think I am. We just hap- create a place where everything comes together inter-
watching how the roasting process works. In recent pened to be the first, honestly.” nationally. This is now his new “coffee mission”.

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