On their quest to present our city with only the finest coffee, Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb of Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters (P&S) are turning to Mother Earth.
This past summer, the pair purchased just over three acres of farmland on the mountain slopes of Santa Brbara, Honduras, a region known for producing coffee with fruity, exotic notes. With this acquisition, P&S joins only a handful of roasters in the world who enjoy such an intimate relationship with the coffee bean.
Robertson and Sztabzyb say owning and operating their own farm allows them to be fully involved without overstepping boundaries, and to take risks and tweak the growing process based on their own research.
To hear these engineering graduates discuss subjects such as soil microbiology and variables in the fermentation process evokes the image of two impassioned scientists. “We want to establish good practices based on real data to yield amazing coffee,” says Sztabzyb. “If we get enough data, eventually we can crack that code.
“Our goal with the aspiring organic farm is to build a learning centre and bring all of our coffee producers to share their practices and, for us, to unlock the secrets that we’ve learned.”
In September, Robertson and Sztabzyb ceremoniously planted more than 4,000 trees of various species. Cultivated and warmed under the Honduran sun, the coffee beans will be ready for roasting in 2022.
Various locations, philsebastian.com