Daniel and David Sanchez run Miro Coffee in Zurich with Kaffeerösterei, two cafés and offer coffee from their coffee truck. Philipp spoke with them about their roasting philosophy. Openness is the key if you want to be successful in specialty coffee.
"Today we roast differently than we did six years ago," Daniel Sanchez tells me. Back then, in 2014, Daniel started roasting coffee at a gas station. An unusual location for a coffee roastery, but one that sticks with you. At the beginning, Miro Coffee would have roasted noticeably lighter and somewhat "pretty edgy," as Daniel says in conversation. Shortly after, the Sanchez brothers launched a coffee truck with which they made coffee daily in front of ETH Zurich. That's where they could gather lots of feedback and reach a broad audience.
"From construction workers to physics professors, we make coffee for everyone."
Daniel Sanchez
The many feedback comments helped refine the roasting language. It's always an exciting process for any roastery to develop their own roasting approach.
There's your own idea of what specialty coffee should taste like. Then there are your personal preferences for certain coffees. And then there are the customers you need to find for your own preferences so that your strategy works out. The more open a roastery is here, the more it allows them to strike a narrower or broader balance.
"We have simple specialty coffees, but also ones that don't taste like coffee at all anymore – so there's something for everyone." Daniel brewed me a washed Ethiopian coffee that was floral and tea-like, but still tasted like coffee. The Colombian espresso after that was definitely no longer mass-market coffee – it was a fruit bomb of coffee that tastes especially like a dessert as a cappuccino.
Daniel Sanchez from miro coffee, Zurich
Growing organically and staying open at Miro Coffee
Today Alfonso roasts with the 5kg Probatone roaster. Alfonso comes from southern Italy and grew up with dark, Robusta-heavy espressos. "When I bring coffee from here to my family, they wave it off. That's not coffee, that's nothing," Alfonso jokes and laughs. Coffee is a cultural good, and our origins shape how we all understand coffee.
The roastery is separated from the café by a glass wall and offers insights into the craft. There are no secrets, and that's why I visited Miro. They see themselves as craftspeople, not artists.
Next to the roastery is the office, which is gradually filling up. Here David, Daniel and the growing team take care of the café, green coffee procurement, marketing and the further development of the business.
"We're not stressed," Daniel tells me, "and we don't have to grow at all costs. But we do want to grow, however: organic is the keyword."
Daniel Sanchez
And in doing so, Miro Coffee wants to remain open – and continue to orient itself towards the people they see daily. They're now newly at Zurich's main train station, where they'll meet commuters – and there are incredibly different coffee preferences there too. Just as we offer Kaffeemacher at Basel train station, or the Adrianos at Bern train station specialty coffee, Miro is now coming to Zurich.
David Sanchez in conversation with Philipp Schallberger
Not loud, but present and composed
I've known Daniel since 2014, when we met at the Barista World Championships in Rimini. Then, in 2015, he served me a coffee at the Swiss Filter Coffee Championships. He was a competitor, I was on the jury. That's when I was able to give him feedback and let him know that he would be disqualified because he had exceeded the time limit.
Championships are an emotional affair and not everyone manages to stay composed – especially in a moment when you've actually served a good coffee and then get disqualified anyway. Dani did. He accepted it, stayed cool and said that it was all about the coffee anyway, not about him.
Those words stuck with me. After my last visit in September, I realized he didn't just mean it, but that Miro Coffee operates that way. Miro Coffee puts good coffee and craftsmanship front and center. Without attitude, and yet trendy – it's great that you're shaping the Swiss coffee scene.
