Coffee Advent 2022 - Day 1 - The Curator

The Curator Cafe was opened by Matteo & Sarah Lamaro in 2012, on the day the Olympic torch passed through Totnes, with the aim of bringing high quality Italian products for everyone to enjoy in a special environment. The Curator as a business has evolved with a small team of individuals passionate about coffee, good food and developing relationships with the local community. Their core values are to ensure their practices and products are sustainable, fair and the best quality.

Coffee has always been at the centre of The Curator, staying loyal to the Italian tradition of wood roasted coffee. Initially they imported wood roasted coffee directly from Italy but decided they wanted to complete the coffee cycle by sourcing and roasting the beans themselves in Totnes so embarked on a coffee roasting journey after the first lockdown in 2020. They had a beautiful, bespoke wood-fuelled roaster made in Italy by Trabattoni; a family run business with generations of knowledge and experience in making wood-fired coffee roasters. This wonderful roaster now sits at their industrial estate unit in Totnes to wood roast coffee not only for The Curator but for a growing number of other coffee shops too.

The Curator coffee is unique not only because they’re the first roasters in the UK to wood roast but also since the heat from wood fire provides more moisture and a slower heat, which keeps more natural oils in the beans resulting in a less acidic, smoother finish. This is what gives the Curator coffee its unique taste and velvet finish.

Coffee

The Curator work closely with their coffee suppliers to source seasonal speciality beans with a scoring over 82. They constantly strive procure single origin, monovarietal beans whenever possible to celebrate the characteristics of each variety and ensure greater traceability. Their beans are ethically and responsibly sourced to ensure farmers receive fair pricing and that their communities are able to sustain long term and viable production.

Wood

Using only sustainable local oak as a heat source, the skilled roaster feeds the fire to maintain the optimum temperature for the required bean type and taste profile. The heat from a wood fire has more moisture which allows a slower roast, keeping more natural oils in the beans resulting in a less acidic, smoother finish. This is what gives the Curator coffee its unique taste and velvet finish.

Tradition

The Curator wood roast their beans to a medium roast following the northern Italian tradition to reach a higher body and lower acidity. To respect those traditions and achieve a full espresso experience they curate an espresso blend that is rich in body and flavour with strong chocolatey, caramel and nutty notes to work both as espresso and with steamed milk. For home brewing they also wood roast single origins.

We're excited to kick off our advent calendar with The Curator's Burundi Mibirizi - This fully washed Burundi Bukhorka coffee is grown at 1,850m. High altitudes and good volcanic soils produce a sweet acidic and fruity cup. Expect notes which remind you of a burst of blackberry, smooth chocolate and sharp apple.