Journal — June 2022

It has been about a year and a half since we first shared Manhattan with our Yonder community, and I’m very excited to be bringing them back on for another feature this month. The coffees we‘re bringing on all shine, but I’m especially excited by the range of varietals and processing innovations featured. Esther, Ben, and their team do fantastic work, and I can‘t wait to hear what you think. As always, feel free to reach out and share your brew recipes, reviews, feedback, etc.

Esther Maasdam and Ben Morrow established Manhattan Coffee Roasters in 2017 in The Netherlands’ harbor city of Rotterdam. The name Manhattan is inspired by the harbor of Rotterdam and the history of the Holland-America line that sailed from Rotterdam to Manhattan in the 19th Century. The city’s spectacular skyline and the iconic bridges over the river Maas has earned Rotterdam the nickname of “Manhattan at the Maas.” Those bridges inspired Manhattan’s logo, and to me, also represent who they are as a link between the world’s coffee lovers and producers.

Esther and Ben have over 30 years of combined experience in the coffee industry and built their relationship over many years meeting up at competitions. They first met at a Latte Art smackdown and continued to compete against and with each other for years. At the roastery you’ll find a trophy cabinet jam-packed with many years’ worth of awards including multiple Latte Art competitions, Cup Tasters and Coffee Masters titles. Ben is actually the only person in the world to win Coffee Masters twice. But you’ll never hear Manhattan talk about that. Instead, they aim to fade into the background while each coffee farmer takes center stage.

As a company, Manhattan is focused on sourcing and roasting interesting, high quality, specialty coffee. They source coffee by way of direct trade partnerships as well as through trusted importers. They are committed to a healthy future for the coffee industry through their cooperation, partnership, and investment with farmers, producers and community leaders around the world. Manhattan roasts on a beautiful, refurbished 1950s Probat Lg12 that Esther had customized with pt1000 probes to measure the air, bean, and environmental temperature throughout the roasting process. This information helps ensure complete control, accuracy, and consistency in every roast.

If you’ve been with us a while, you may remember Diego Bermudez from our last Manhattan feature. This year’s crop is even better than before—although, if I’m being honest, José Luis’s Sidra from Ecuador is my favorite this month. We hope you enjoy them!