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SOMEONE ONCE TOLD ME that the problem with quality is that it’s neither a guarantee nor requirement for success in the coffee industry, but more importantly it is location that is the key to a successful coffee shop. Stubbornly, I went the opposite way and early in 2014 Kofra opened its doors in the middle of nowhere with only the promise of quality coffee. I believe that the key to success in coffee is a mix of people, location and quality and that is how our slogan was born: Coffee, Community and Quality. Those three pillars led us to open our second shop inside the prestigious Sainsbury Centre for The Visual Arts at the UEA. The brief was, ‘to deliver a world class coffee experience’; an extraordinary and complex task but we worked hard at it and we not only achieved that goal, but continue pushing the boundaries of coffee and service experience. We are also leading the way in the world of modern coffee. Last summer a location came up in the middle of Norwich’s Golden Triangle on Onley Street. A little corner in desperate need of love, and so our third location was born. Onley Street has, from day one, proven to be what I always dreamt Kofra to become one day: a hub for the neighbourhood. We didn’t advertise the new opening as I wanted the neighbours to ‘own’ the shop first, to feel it was their local coffee shop before we let everyone know about the new Kofra in the neighbourhood. You might have noticed that we sell wine as well www.feastnorfolkmagazine.co.uk
JOSÉ DE LEÓN GUZMÁN
Coffee, Community quaLIty
MEET OUR NEW COLUMNIST JOSÉ DE LEÓN GUZMÁN OF SPECIALITY COFFEE BREWER, KOFRA, WHO TELLS US ABOUT THEIR NEW NORWICH SHOP
VISIT
www.kofra.co.uk
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and a small food selection that will keep evolving over time. Right now we are experimenting with lacto fermentation on food and for sure you’ll see some new dishes soon. The Kofra team has grown so much over the years; we are now eight passionate baristas, two people at the office, and here I must also mention the help of the lovely people from The Horse Box; the geniuses behind all our delicious pastries. We work exclusively with them and hope to continue doing so for many years. 2019 is a year of new adventures for me as I am writing this while in Guatemala, my home country where I am setting up a high end roastery for the local market; a dream come true. February is an exciting month for us at the shops as we welcome three of our favourite single origin coffees. Costa Rican coffee has landed and again all the hard work and experimentation they do there has paid off as this year’s crop is amazing. The first of our series of Colombian coffees for this season is arriving now and once again they are contenders for our best espressos and filters of the year. Last but not least the season of African coffees has started, so expect some wonderful, floral and mildly acidic deliciousness from Burundi, Kenya and of course Ethiopia.