Roasting Coffee is Pure Craftsmanship

How it started

OR Coffee Roasters started in the year 2000 when Tom began to roast coffee in his little coffee shop in Aalst. Specialty coffee was still very much unknown in Belgium and roasting coffee the traditional artisanal way was slowly disappearing.

The last few years specialty coffee gained a lot of popularity in Belgium. Where before we would only sell coffee to specialized coffee bars, today everybody can serve delicious coffee by OR. We are very proud OR Coffee could play a part in the third wave coffee revolution in Belgium.

How it's going

In 2013 Tom was joined by our head roaster Miguel Maes. Together they roast on a 22kg and 60kg Probat. Next to the big machines we also use a micro-drum sample roaster by Probat. Our coffee roaster training station is equipped with a 1Kg Probatino for smaller batches and training purposes.

In 2020 they were joined by Joris, who has had a full year and a half of training before Miguel left us in the summer of 2021. Tom and Joris still roast all their coffee manually. The origin of the bean, process methode and other variables determine the way they roast a coffee. Every bean has his unique attributes and unique recipe.

Vision

We will always recommend an ideal brewing methode for a coffee on our label. Depending on the roast and the general flavour profile of the coffee we will differentiate between a coffee for filter or for espresso.

Every roaster has his own vision about coffee. At OR we only work with quality specialty arabica coffee. We believe a light roasting process, in which the bean keeps most of its natural aromas, is the only way we can serve a coffee at his best.

Sustainability

We aim to be sustainable in every step of the coffee chain and this is why we work with producers who grow their coffee pesticide free. Some are organic certified, others are not, but we go to the origin every year and see how they practise what they stand for. Some countries of origin are still unable to work pesticide free because of diseases that greatly affect the coffee plants.

Packaging wise we work with the most sustainable option at this point, which is 100% recyclable material. We hope the food packaging industry will grow into an even more sustainable direction in the future. But for now this is the best option we have. Nevertheless we are happy to say that our Nespresso compatible capsules are home bio degradable. On top of that, more and more professional customers use our zero waste option, which is coffee delivered in barrels that we pick up afterwards.

Lastly our roastery is supplied with solar panels on the roof.