Jerry likes to discover the Belgian Specialty Coffee scene. It’s growing rapidly and this makes me so happy! Based in Alsemberg a small town in the south of Brussels we find Tanguy with his micro-roastery ‘Gust Coffee Roasters’ He believes that behind every great coffee there’s an origin and a true story about people and cultures. Let’s find out about his story.

Hi Tanguy, we are very curious to hear your coffee story, please tell us.
Hi Jerry, my coffee story started actually 15 years ago when I traveled in Australia and tasted another kind of coffee I was used to drink in Belgium. The coffee wasn’t burnt, was sweet and fruity with even a little acidity, which I found amazing. I discovered specialty coffee. When coming back, it literally started haunting me and I tasted coffees from many different roasters across Europe. What I loved the most, is that every roaster has its own ‘touch’ and roasting style. In 2020 I decided to make the jump and start my own roastery with the coffee I personally liked the most. But I also wanted to go back to the values that were really important for me, being : real, honest, craftsmanship. That’s why, besides the quality, my aim is always to find coffees from ethical and sustainable origins and with a minimum of intermediaries across the coffee supply chain.

That’s what makes great coffee really special.

Who has been the biggest inspiration or mentor for you in your coffee life?
My biggest inspiration in coffee was probably the first natural single-origin I drank from roaster the Barn in Berlin, so amazingly fruity, sweet and balanced, I couldn’t believe it was coffee!

We get more and more requests for brewing recipes. What do you think is the best way to make this coffee?
I love experimenting with filter coffee, especially V60 and Kalita are my favorites, as you get all the delicate notes out of a coffee. I can really enjoy taking the time to discover what tasting notes a coffee contains, it’s kind of a yoga session for me.

To be honest, I had never heard of Alsemberg. Jerry is always eager to discover new places. What should we look for in your town?
Alsemberg is located in the southwest of Brussels, in the Senne valley, known for their Lambic beers, fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria native to the Senne valley. This process gives the beer its distinctive fruity and sweet flavours with a bright acidity, very similar to a great coffee.

We have often seen Gust in other coffee subscriptions; Jerry is actually wondering how this works?
We really believe in subscriptions for coffee, as it’s a product you normally always need in your household but you sometimes forget to plan in advance. With a subscription you always have freshly roasted coffee at home, just enough for your consumption and it makes you discover new origins again and again, which is the most exciting with specialty coffee.

“If not yet the case…, start experimenting and exploring coffee !”

I think we stay a little bit longer in Poland. Here is so much to see. Do you want to see the biggest mammals in Europe? Head to Poland to see bisons! Street art in Poland is growing rapidly and the design and concept is definitely world-class, like there coffee. The other reason we want to stay, Coffee Plant in Warsaw.

Tell us a little bit about yourself! How did you get started in coffee? What do you love about what you do?
Our history started aproximately 5 years ago when Szymon with Dagmara and Michał launched www.coffeeplant.pl. From the beginning it was just a coffee blog, which was an expression of passion for specialty coffee . We didn’t expect that our coffee path would lead us straight to the roastery, but it actually did. Time was running, blog was slowly becoming popular and our thoughts about the roastery were becoming more serious. We showed the first coffee roasted for espresso 3 years ago. Later we launched filter coffee and Nespresso capsules.

Can you recommend some places to see some amazing street art and drink good coffee?
Specialty coffee market in Poland grows rapidly and there are a lot of places to drink good coffee, but just good. But there are some kind of places from category like “must have”. First of all in Warsaw – Forum is a coffee spot from european top. Also in Warsaw Czytelnia and Coffeedesk are worth visiting. There is also an amazing place with amazing people in Gdynia – Black and White Coffee. Amazing cakes with great coffee. And we also recommend Piece of Cake in Poznań – good coffee and the best croissants in the world :).

In the box we have chosen a coffee from Ethiopia. What can you tell us about this coffee?
Tabe Burka is an expression of what we are looking for in coffee. Some may say that it is just washed coffee from Guji region. But actually in that coffee of course you can find typical attributes for washed heirlooms from Ethiopia – like tea-like body or flowers in aroma. But in Tabe Burka you can also find sweet citruses like very ripe orange, honey and vanilla aftertaste. Everything is very balanced and complex. We love obvious coffees which are actually aren’t so obvious, like Tabe Burka.

What is the best way to brew your coffee in our box? Can you share your recipe?
That coffee has two faces. If you would like to get from it a little bit more citrus acidity and some more flowers, we recommend to brew Tabe Burka with a little bit lower extraction. Try 92-93 celsius degree low mineralized water, 6,5/100 dose with typical for your method grinding. You can also squeeze more sweetness, higher and more rounded body, use 6/100 dose and 94-95 celsius. Then look for ripe orange, honey and more vanilla. And actually, in our opinion the best way to brew Tabe Burka is V60.

“Stop drinking bad coffee! And we are COFFEE PLANT :-).“

Last November, we had the pleasure of having Doubleshot from the Czech Republic in our coffee box. This month we have another Czech roastery. Father’s coffee roastery is based in faraway Ostrava. This place is booming with creative talents. There are murals, galleries and art everywhere. Sounds like a place for Jerry!

How did you get introduced to coffee?
I was always a big coffee drinker, only my focus was more on quantity than quality in my young days. My wife on the other hand didn’t really like coffee. When we met, we combined our passions, my for coffee and hers for quality. We didn’t really know anything about specialty coffee back then. Then we came up with the idea to open our own coffee shop. We started with no experience by buying an espresso machine, grinder and equipment for brewing coffee, installed that in the tool shed and trained by doing all the mistakes you can possibly do. Three months later we open our first coffee shop, it was outside the shopping mall on the bike and we were using Doubleshot coffee. What does the future look like for you?

Where do you see your company in the future?
A lot has changed since we opened our first coffee shop. The simplified timeline would look like this: Coffee on bike – indoor espresso bar – selling the brand – moving to Berlin – working for Five elephants. – Moving back to Ostrava – rejoining the brand we sold before– selling it again – starting Father’s – now.

We are now working hard on stabilizing the company. Last year even dough it was a hard and stressful time, we managed to grow as a company, get many more employees and customers around Europe. Now I believe the time to come will be much harder than the whole “covid” year, due to many reasons. Starting from post covid economic situation all the way to climate changes. The future of “Father’s” must be sustainable.

What is the very first cup of coffee you ever remember drinking?
Then would be Kenyan Espresso from Doubleshot roastery made by Michal Stec (nowadays owner of Rebelbean roastery) in Mitte Coffee Brno around 2012. Would you like to share a brewing recipe for your featured coffee with us? My brewing recipe is this. V60 15g of coffee – quiet cores grinding 250g of water divided into 5 pours of 50g every 30 seconds. Total time should be around 2:45 – 3:00 Water temperature 95° But please make experiments and try new stuff! Ostrava is bursting with murals and other art.

What can you recommend to see?
Ostrava is being looked at through the fingers, especially by the rest of the Czech Republic, but there is amazing potential. I believe the highest value is the People! That being said if you like crowded cities and want to see Ostrava when everyone is doing their best you need to come to the “Colors Of Ostrava” music festival.

If you are interested in Murals than I would recommend to go to City Folklore showroom and talk to Sasanca, she is the owner and one of the “legends” in the City. In this show room we also opened our first in-door espresso bar around 8 years ago. At the point in life were we are now, the bgigest pleasure are the Beskydy mountains that are 30 minutes away from Ostrava. I believe that is one of biggest treasures of the City. There are many more treasures in the city, music and musicians, art galleries, coal mining museum, DOV – the industrial part of Ostrava of course the gastronomy, even tough being super small in numbers of places still very good and many many more.

“We are super thank full to be part of this subscription. And we would like to encourage people to take care of their own surrounding. Be reasonable with the amount of plastic you are using. Don’t fly if it is not necessary. And don’t go to Supermarkets if it is anyhow manageable. To keep the coffee good and well we need to change something. ”

He starts with a ball of clay and ends with dark shadowed paintings. Born and raised in a small village in the shadow of Belgium’s greatest goalkeeping talent ever: Jean Marie Pfaff :-). Meet Maarten B.

Hello! Who is Maarten B.? Tell something about yourself.
Maarten MaBo Boogaerts, MaBo is the name for an artist or whatever you want to call it. Creative, but not always able to get there, loves nature and is a professional gardener. Attends evening school for art painting and is currently in his second year of specialising in clay heads.

How did you start with painting?
For the chiro, on the walls of the classrooms or on panels and in people’s homes with acrylic paint. And now I am taking evening classes in oil paint.

Where did you get your inspiration for these paintings?
For years, I have been scribbling papers full of little heads. or my final project at the painting academy, I made heads of clay and photographed them in order to bring more depth to my work.

Besides paint, are there any other materials that you like to work with or would like to work with?
Papier-mâché, clay, pen, charcoal I use for my preliminary studies. I would like to master pen and ink, calligraphy, graffiti looks like something fun too.

Are there other places where we can see and buy your work?
At the academy, at my home and at my brother’s home. I am not selling anything at the moment. Leave your email address at I know Jerry from Toronto and I will keep you informed.

When you’re not making paintings what do you do?
Scribbling papers full of heads and other stupid things, walking and working as a gardener.

“It is nice that I can do something like this.”