Paso Paso — 2025 Year in Review
This year was just as challenging as it was rewarding. Some months were loud, showing up at festivals around Europe and hosting local events, and some were quiet, with our heads down in production and planning. During a few personal and organizational setbacks, we saw something that really kept us going: the support for our brand and our coffees continued to grow. That became our inspiration and drive to keep showing up and putting in the good work.
January — Visiting Silvio and a cupping with Fietsen in Stuttgart
We started the year on Silvio's farm in Northern Nicaragua. It was the first time I returned there after starting Paso Paso and it felt like coming home. Here we celebrated our early successes and looked forward to the harvest that was just getting started.
Upon returning to Germany we organized a cupping with Fietsen Radcafé in Stuttgart. As one of our first clients here in Germany we had been looking forward to finally personally meet. Their fun 'Cupping & Games' format proved engaging and fun. Brewing our coffees on their beautiful Slayer Espresso machine was of course a joy as well.
February — Nordic Coffee Fest in Gothenburg + Decaf launch
February was a big one. We went back to Nordic Coffee Fest in Gothenburg to celebrate our first birthday. We also finally launched our very own decaf. In this project we turned our limitations of being a Farmer Owned company into a real advantage, we went many extra miles to get our own coffee decaffed and got to choose our own quality and process - instead of relying on traders to make those choices for us.
Fun fact: our decaf is our second best selling coffee, with 1259 bags sold since launch.
March — Roasting despite difficulties.
At the end of 2024 I was diagnosed with a severe hip dysplasia, needing urgent surgery. This was a strong reality-check that being independent and responsible for the daily grind at Paso Paso also has some downsides. My hip was carefully broken in three places and screwed back together to fit the Femur better. The prescribed three months bed rest was adjusted down to a mere twelve days. The Roasting Must Go On.
With some clever adjustments to our Giesen roasting machine and a lot of support from friends, family and our dear intern Alberto me made it work. But during this time we focused on keeping the coffee flowing and turned down our promotional work.
April & May
These two months we chugged along at the roastery, focussing on recovery of the hip and coordinating the logistics of new harvests coming in from the farms. A special shout-out to all the help I got during this time.
June — Sweet Spot (Munich) + World of Coffee (Geneva)
In June, it was time to full throttle forward again and share the Paso Paso joy around Europe. We kicked it off with a visit together with Diego Robelo to Sweet Spot in Munich. Dubbed 'the best coffee shop in Europe' it was an honour to nerd out here about processing details and the queen of Ethiopia: Casiopea. As a starting roastery, it is always humbling to see our bags next to legends such as Tim Wendelboe, Coffee Collective and La Cabra.
From Munich we continued our journey to exhibit for the first time at World Of Coffee. This is The Coffee Place To Be in Europe each year. At our booth in the Roaster Village we gathered together with Hester and Jasper and connected with professionals from around the world.
July — Costa Rica: visiting Jorge Vásquez
July took us back to origin, this time to visit Jorge Vásquez in Costa Rica. Jorge's farm is an idyllic place where you connect to nature in every sense. The fresh mountain air, the cattle grazing along the coffee trees, the sweet fresh fruits and of course the sight of developing coffee cherries. We shared an important lesson, Jorge's natural coffee was so much more popular than the washed, so we decided to go all in on the natural for the foreseeable future.
August — Local promotions in Hannover
From Jorge's farm back to Hannover, we directly reconnected with the other side of the coffee supply chain: the coffee drinkers. First we held a Pop-Up at East Coffee in Hannover, brewing coffee for shoppers two weekends long. Then, we received our long-term clients from the Czech Republic, Mokka.Oda, at the roastery. And finally, we held a cupping in Bredenbeck with Caffe Bar B, inviting passing cyclist as well as locals into the world of cupping.
September — Frankfurt + Berlin Coffee Festivals
September was festival season: Frankfurt and Berlin Coffee Festivals squeezed within two weeks. In Frankfurt I spontaneously participated in the Brewers Cup and achieved a respectable 15th place (out of 24) wit just 20 minutes of preparation. The competition coffee: Diego Robelo - Centroamericano Anaerobic Natural.
To cap it off, Diego Robelo joined us in Berlin and Hannover - closing to circle by meeting our local retailers!
October — Building our Tasting Bar in the roastery.
We decided to build out our roastery to welcome fans of the brand and curious minds into our world. Dear Ricus from local friends Panama Kaffee gifted us a beautiful bar which formed the base of our build out. We took home a La Marzocco Linea Mini from the coffee festivals and now we are serving people each Thursday!
November — Exploring the Warsaw coffee scene & Give-Back-Friday
In November we visited Warsaw to get acquainted with the coffee scene there and host an event with Coffee Desk. We were blown away by the great Polish hospitality and knowledgeable baristi. The end of the month marked our second edition of Give-Back-Friday. Our annual sale where we think our loyal customers and do a one-time 20% discount online.
The result: 72 Happy Customers in four days!
December — Christmas spirit & slowing down.
Now it's December, and we take our foot of the gas again. We focus on roasting impressive amounts of coffee for our wholesale customers from near and far. We launched our first Christmas coffee to warm body & spirit with notes of Cinnamon. Baked Apple & Glühwein. And of course, we relax spent time with friends and family and all in all, look back on a dynamic, difficult yet very succesful year.
Thanks to all of you for being part of it, without you, the coffee drinker, nothing of this would be possible. From the Roastery and farms around the world, we hope to see each other again in 2026.