Warawul turns one with a special visit by monKaaba
Warawul celebrated its first anniversary in October, marking a year since its founding. A highlight of this birthday was welcoming Colombian producers Esnaider Gomez Ortega and Didier Ortega from the monKaaba initiative to our Neukölln café, where we shared stories and enjoyed coffee together.
The last weekend of October marked a truly special occasion for us. On October 26, we celebrated one year of Warawul. One year ago, we met for coffee near Friedrichstraße and then walked to the notary's office to sign the founding documents for Warawul. Little did we know it would take another three months just to get our tax ID and really start operations.
Since then, building a business—especially in coffee—has been an intense, all-consuming journey. We’ve launched our online shop, opened a café, and moved over 600 kg of coffee. With Warawul, we're taking a fresh approach to coffee. In our café, you’ll only find single-origin or even single-farm specialty coffees. It’s always a special joy to see our customers discovering flavors they never imagined encountering in a cup of coffee. But trying something new isn’t always easy.
Nothing motivates us more, though, than the relationships we’ve built with each of the coffee producers we work with. We’ve met or spoken personally to all of them. Through email, voice messages and phone calls, we stay in close contact to share how customers are liking their coffees and planning together for the year ahead.
So, it was a special joy for us to welcome Esnaider Gomez Ortega and Didier Ortega, who lead the monKaaba producer initiative in San Agustín, Huila, Colombia. For the first time, Esnaider and Didier were visiting Europe, meeting with roasters and presenting monKaaba coffees alongside their close importing partner, Semilla Café.
They visited us in our little Neukölln café, where we enjoyed different coffees from our brew bar and a breakfast together. Anabel had visited them in San Agustín just this past July and Brenda had also spoken to them by phone in March, so seeing them here felt like reuniting with friends. We spent the rest of the day strolling through Neukölln, showing them around the neighborhood on a sunny afternoon.
Brenda and Anabel also recorded an interview with Esnaider and Didier, discussing the founding of the monKaaba initiative four years ago and its journey since. We'll be sharing clips from the conversation in the coming weeks.
It fills us with pride to see what we've accomplished in just one year, especially when the producers experience their coffee being sold in our shop, complete with their names and stories. As Esnaider put it best: "Behind a cup of coffee, there is a great artist, pouring in their life, dreams, and above all, their heart. In coffee, there are remarkable human beings who also have the right to be valued and respected."
We look forward to Warawul's second year and hope it will be the year the company truly takes off. We’re excited to take you along on this journey with us.