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Probat Refurbishing Company in Emmerich, Germany

Tagging Along to Amsterdam and then made our way via rental car to Em-
merich. We got to spend a full day learning more about the
Another impactful trip I had was my trip in 2016 to the roasters both the refurbished ones as well as the new ones
Specialty Coffee Trade Show in Dublin, Ireland. I would say coming from Probat. We discussed a bit about roaster theory,
that the trade show went as expected, but once again the time how the machines were designed and the demand that each
I spent afterward was more memorable than the time I spent company was seeing for different trends across the globe. It
at the trade show. Earlier in the year I had met Adam Smith was a great learning experience to have a greater understand-
who was working on building a roastery in the UK near Bir- ing about the roasting trends around the globe. We even met
mingham. He had come to visit me in Panama during the other aspiring or seasoned roasters from many different
harvest where I was able to show him around Boquete and countries visiting the factories. After the day in Emmerich
he had got to learn about Panamanian coffees. He invited me we went back to Amsterdam and got to spend some time at
to come and visit him in the UK to see his roastery setup and the beach and see a bit of the Amsterdam coffee scene. The
to learn more about the UK market. Thus, after the show in following day before catching our flight we went to visit one
Dublin I made my way to meet him in the UK. of the many coffee trading companies in Amsterdam. I had
For the first couple of days he showed me around Chip- never been to the office of a trading company in Europe so it
ping Norton, Oxford, and some other cities in the UK to dis- was great to cup alongside Adam who was looking to commit
cover the coffee scene and maybe share some ideas I had for to some coffees for his new company. I got to learn a bit about
him on promoting his new roastery. He showed me his setup the European specialty coffee market, tasting through the lots
and even was kind enough to share a lot of the expected ex- and asking about consumer preferences in the European
penses and costs with starting a roastery. This was eye open- Union. I was thankful to Adam for inviting me to tag along
ing for me as well because I had not been really exposed to the on his journey as I learned a lot about the industry and the
financial side of the roasting business. He then invited me to different layers between roasters, manufacturers, traders, and
travel with him to go see the Probat Factory and a Probat re- coffee culture in Europe. Furthermore, I learned about the
furbishing company in Emmerich, Germany (which at the time setup, challenges and costs related to starting a coffee roast-
were conveniently across the street from each other) as he ery. I was a sponge soaking everything up.
was planning on getting one of the roasters from them. Since, Overall, I’m sure that many producers, roasters, and
I still had time before I needed to get back to Panama I natu- traders have memorable stories that have impacted their
rally said yes! Traveling in Europe has always been exciting personal life, benefitted their businesses and broadened
for me. Pretty seamless, but such a rich cultural experience. I their knowledge. These were a few of mine and hopefully
was very glad to accompany Adam as it was a side of the busi- they demonstrated the importance of relationships within
ness I would not normally see on the producer side. We flew the specialty coffee community.
Discover more at
www.wally.coffee
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