To connect coffee lovers and professionals from all around the world, to inspire others, to make new friends.
Today we feature the story of :
RAMÓN QUIROZ
Please tell us about yourself.
My name is Ramón Quiroz, I was born in Guadalajara, México where actually I own Café Nonno which is a small coffee roasting and distribution business. I´ve been working and learning in the coffee world for almost 3 years and my goal for this year is to take mexican specialty coffee outside México´s borders with my brand.
What is your vision and goal?
Café Nonno works with small Mexican coffee farmers, mostly with the ones that produce specialty and organic coffee. Here we roast and pack the coffee to distribute and ship all over México to coffee shops, offices, hospitals and solo coffee drinkers.
My grandad was a farmer and I saw the struggles that he had maintaining and selling at a fair price his crops and produce, so I promised myself that someday I´d do something to change things for people like him. Here is my opportunity I think. That´s where our business mission came from: Bring Superb fair trade Mexican coffee to people.
I want people outside the country to realise that México has great coffee, hence Café Nonno´s goal for this year is starting to ship and export our Mexican speacialty and organic coffee to other countries.
By the way, the name of my brand is a Spanish-Italian word mix which means, ”Italian style Mexican coffee”
How did you get started in coffee, what made you fallen in love with it?
Well, that´s a funny story because till 6 years ago I used to not drink coffee because I had some troubles with the caffeine effects on myself. My bad was to believe that all types of coffee do the same. One of those days I was working in a project for Mexican government, in Chiapas, where I got in touch with coffee farmers and I started trying organic coffee, which was pretty different to what I had tried before. Then a specialty coffee bar opened at the university where I was working and there, I started to become a regular coffee drinker.
Some time later I had struggles with my job and I decided to return to Chiapas to visit coffee farmers and learn more about. They started to ship coffees to me, to Guadalajara, I got a second hand 1 kilo coffee roaster and the rest is history.
If you weren't a coffee lover or professional what would you have done instead?
Since I was I kid I was very curious about how things are made or constructed, also I am very passionate about art which means that you could be talking now with an architect or a designer.
What is your favourite coffee beverage ?
I have 2, depending of the time during the day. Macchiato for mornings and an iced v60 brew for afternoons/evenings.
What do you see as the major challenges facing the coffee industry?
I´ll tell you 2, a global one and another more local, mexican coffee industry situation I mean.
Global: Climate change. Some of us are aware that due to global warming in 10 years or less the coffee plant could start to disappear and with it the coffee industry maybe, so it’s in our hands starting to take actions ourselves and demand to do the same to our people and governments.
México: Local support. Most of people here doesn´t know that we are one of the main coffee producer countries on the globe and also they ignore that not only we produce but that also we have a quality product. Instead mexicans preffer to buy cheap coffee from transnationals or even buy from another origins. Therefore Mexican coffee industry challenge is to educate Mexicans about the products we produce and their quality.
One tip to improve the coffee industry ?
Sustainability. Reduce the carbon footprint on all coffee chain from farming to retailing. Avoid using agroquimics in coffee farming, using better perfomance coffee roasting machines, reduce plastics on packaiging and to encourage costumers to reuse packs and mugs.
What is your favourite quote ?
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult”
-Seneca-