According to the latest International Coffee Organization – ICO report, 149.3 million is the estimated number of 60 kg bags of coffee consumed globally in 2014. There was a considerable increase of 2.3% average annual growth rate in global coffee consumption since 2011.
With those figures, we can’t deny that coffee it’s a worldwide commodity. Luckily, Brazil is the biggest producing country in the world. But not anyone else has the privilege of getting Brazilian coffee delivered to your doorstep. Thinking about this gap in the market, the entrepreneurs Daniel Pryjma and Mikael Jansen founded Brewed in Brazil: a subscription service that delivers exclusive Brazilian coffees at your home monthly. Simple as that!
Midlands Trade: How and when did you come up with the idea or your business?
Daniel Pryjma: It is actually a long story. I lived a few years in Finland, and that’s where I started drinking big amounts of coffee every day, just because that’s what everybody does.However, in general, they drink quite bad coffee and my mother always sent me better coffees to ensure I would be drinking something slightly better. At that time she wasn’t shipping anything fancy. It was just the normal supermarket stuff, which was already a huge improvement.
November last year, we had a couple of friends from Finland that came to visit us in Brazil. I took them to this tiny coffee shop, where the owner “hunts” his own speciality coffee. My friends loved the idea, and also thought it would be great to have this in Europe.
Then we did a bit of research and found out that there were no coffee subscription companies delivering only Brazilian coffee. So we founded the company, me in Brazil and my partner Mikael Jansen in Europe.
I started looking around to find partners to help us get the best coffee Brazil could offer, while he was dealing with the bureaucracy. Now we are working on a Kickstarter campaign to get the company going.
Midlands Trade: Why did you choose Brazilian coffee?
Daniel Pryjma: I am Brazilian, and every time I showed my Brazilian coffee to my foreign friends they all loved it and got extremely excited.Also, because I am living in Brazil at the moment, it makes things nice and personal. I can literally drive to the coffee farms, meet the farmers and understand everything each coffee grain has to offer. This way we can really bring a personalised message to our subscribers.
Besides, Brazil is the biggest coffee producer in the world and recently, Brazilian special coffee began to be noticed and praised internationally.
Midlands Trade: How does your service work?
Daniel Pryjma: It’s quite simple really. The customer subscribes with a fixed fee and we take care of all the hard work to make sure they get the best coffees Brazil has to offer. We will take care of finding a great coffee, packaging, shipping, etc. Basically, the customer only needs to prepare the coffee.
Midlands Trade: What are the brands you are working with?
Daniel Pryjma: No brands, we are working directly with the farmers to secure what the coffee industry calls micro-lots. These are small portions of the farm that generate a very limited amount of coffee with great quality. We negotiate with the farmers to secure a few bags of these brews.
Then, with our partner Lucca Cafés Especiais, we get the coffee roasted by a master roaster, who will ensure all the flavours of those beans will be extracted to its fullest. Then we ship under our brand with the farm specificity.
Midlands Trade: How do you select your products?
Daniel Pryjma: We are working with a few coffee specialists that will grade the coffees we find to make sure it meets the criteria to be called a speciality coffee (80 points or above). This way we are able to ensure the quality even of unmarked lots from small farms.
Midlands Trade: What kind of clientèle are you expecting to achieve?
Daniel Pryjma: Everyone that loves coffee and is interested in getting a bit more out of Brazilian culture and having a tropical moment in their every day.
Midlands Trade: What is different about your products and service?
Daniel Pryjma: We are working to make sure our clients get the best coffees Brazil can offer straight to their homes, no hassles. We even designed a special box that aims to fit all standard mailboxes, so the customer does not need to be home to receive it.
In addition to that, we will send information on the coffee and how to extract the best flavours from it. So, on top of the coffee, the customers will get the experience of knowing the farmer and farm, as well as learn a bit about coffees every month.
Midlands Trade: Which are the countries you are going to exporting your products for?
Daniel Pryjma: Initially we are working with EU and Norway.
Midlands Trade: What are the challenges of starting a business like yours?
Daniel Pryjma: Essentially it is marketing because we have a very different offer, so we need to learn how to convey our message the best way because once we manage to explain what we stand for, people really like the idea. There is also a fair challenge with logistics.
We need to make sure the coffee doesn’t get worse on the way from Brazil to Europe. We are overcoming this by working with great roasters, high-quality packaging, and optimal delivery periods.
The optimal period for delivery changes with the type of coffee and roasting. There are some coffees that mature within 14 days, some within 21 days after the roasting. So, we partnered up with logistics companies to ensure our customers get the coffee around the best possible time.
Midlands Trade: In your opinion, how is a Kickstarter campaign important to set up a business nowadays?
Daniel Pryjma: Kickstarter is a great way to get visibility and not be dependent on investors’ money. While getting investors is great to add experience and cash. It can be a challenge if there is too much pressure and different visions for the company. This is why we chose Kickstarter. Also, it is pretty risk-free to the customers, and we really like that!
Midlands Trade: How is e-commerce important to your business?
Daniel Pryjma: E-commerce is the essence of our business, without excellent platforms it would be impossible for us to operate in such a globalised market. We have basically a fully virtual company since I stay in Brazil and my business partner in Europe. I am personally a great advocate for e-commerce and e-businesses, because it is a wonderful way to start a company with little money and be able to leverage growth incredibly fast.
Midlands Trade: What would be your advice for those thinking about starting a business like yours?
Daniel Pryjma: Start! I think a lot of great ideas go down the drain because people think too much before they get started. I see myself doing that too, we stalled quite a few months out of fear of possible failure. In reality, the people that succeed are people who try and learn from failure, so we gave it a go and I suggest that anyone who has a decent idea do the same. Nowadays it’s possible to start companies with zero money, so just go for it!
About Daniel Pryjma:
Daniel Pryjma is from Curitiba, Brazil, where he lives now. After passing a few years in France and Finland, he and his Finnish wife decided to move to his hometown.
He has a Master’s degree in Business and Technology by the Tempere University of Technology and did his bachelors in Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Paraná.
Although a Mechanical Engineer, Daniel has never worked in this area. Currently, he partnered up with a friend from Finland to start exporting some of what Brazil produces best in the world: speciality coffee!
Visit Brewed in Brazil page on Facebook | Brewed in Brazil and their Kickstarter campaign here.
