If the cliche is to be believed, airline pilots consume more coffee in the skies than a Boeing 747 drinks kerosene.
But for Dan Norman, who launched ethical coffee brand Norlo with wife Steph last year, it wasn’t his former job as a commercial pilot that fuelled his love of coffee.
‘I would love to say that my love of coffee came from flying but the quality is really not great on board, it’s always instant,’ he laughs. ‘It’s a paradox of flying, though, the more you try to avoid it the more you drink it because you need it.’
Instead, the coffee romance was fully ignited by one of the first dates with wife Steph in 2016. Both lovers of good coffee, Steph suggested after just a few meetings that they go to Oslo to sample the world-famous coffee culture for themselves.
One survey found that Norway ranked second in the world in coffee drinking, with an average annual consumption of 9.9kg per capita, but it wasn’t just the bucketload-like quantities that were different.
‘Steph and I hadn’t been seeing each other long but decided to go out there and earmarked the coffee houses we wanted to visit.
‘We were sampling at one of the coffee houses and were struck by how light the roast was, it retained the flavours, it was smoother, like herbal tea but tasted fantastic compared to the generic bitter caffeinated coffees we have in the UK.’
A plan was brewing. Having done some research into coffee drinking behaviour in the UK, Dan and Steph discovered that British drinkers were up for trying something new and seemed receptive to different coffee cultures around the world.
The couple started working with a branding company and also started investigating how they could create their own ethical coffee brand, inspired by what they had discovered in Norway. By the time the first lockdown had finished they were ready to launch Norlo, a coffee brand that is both speciality-grade and organic.
The dark side of coffee?
While most of us guzzle coffee to get going in the morning, few of us wonder what goes onto the crops in the first place to give them a little pizazz. Coffee is said to be one of the most highly sprayed and treated crops in the world.
So with that morning cuppa, there could be all sorts of chemicals involved in it getting to your cup. Perhaps it’s hard to be believe, but it is estimated that just 3% of coffee is organic.
Then there is mountains of waste. One figure suggests 30,000 coffee pods go to landfill each month and take 500 years to decompose.
Dan says less than 1% of all coffee served worldwide is both. Norlo imports ethically sourced green coffee beans, certified organic by the Soil Association, from some of the world’s leading organic Fairtrade coffee farms, grown in nutrient-rich volcanic soil then hand-picked and sun-dried.
There is great attention to detail in the packaging. Everything is fully recyclable and the cardboard used for the tubes is both 100% recycled, too.
Norlo’s pods are crafted in the UK to cut down on transportation and housed in 100% compostable, nitrogen-flushed flow bags that produce a complete oxygen barrier for maximum freshness and flavour preservation.
‘In terms of chemicals, coffee is one of the most heavily treated crops of any agricultural commodity,’ says Dan, ‘so being organic and sustainable were hugely important factors. It was really important that we tick all the eco boxes in our minds. In terms of the coffee, we wanted it to be organic, which is better for us and the planet, and in terms of the packaging it had to be sustainable because we throw away tonnes of stuff as consumers and we need to cut out as many barriers to people recycling their goods as possible.’
In a short time, Norlo has picked up plenty of accolades, including two Great Taste Awards 2021 for its ‘Caffeinated’ & ‘Lightly Caffeinated’ blends and a Soil Association BOOM (Best of Organic Start-ups) Award.
The next step for Norlo is to look at anaerobic digestion systems to convert the coffee bean husks into methane, which can be used for creating power. Right now, it is just Dan and Steph working from their site in Dorset, but 2022 could see them expanding and their team growing.
‘It’s great to be self-employed,’ says Dan. ‘It’s been really liberating to focus on something purpose- driven and knowing that what we are doing is both something for ourselves and for the planet. It’s hard work, but a lot of fun.’ And do they have any more plans for coffee-themed weekends away? ‘Well, we have two children now and are working like crazy, but we can always dream.’
Visit Norlo to find out more
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source https://metro.co.uk/2021/11/09/how-a-trip-to-norway-inspired-a-pilot-to-start-his-own-eco-coffee-business-15560903/
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