About Cocóra Coffee
Cocóra Specialty Coffees is Spanish roastery founded in 2017.
Cocóra is a company with its own roasting style developed through knowledge and education from the most skilled people in specialty coffee industry like Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee Roasters) in Stockholm, Sandra Azevedo (SCA trainer, Academia do Café) in Lisbon and Scott Rao (coffee expert and author, USA).
Having learned from the best and adding our own personal touch, we have developed a roasting style that has been recognised on cupping tables around Europe, as well as multiple national competitions like 2nd place in SCA Spain Brewer’s Cup and 3rd place in Spain Roasters Champ.
Since the very beginning in 2017 our company focused and invested the most in professional education and top class equipment to provide locally something that is unique and has the right to exist, an excellent product that we all love - COFFEE. By approaching everything with attention, responsibility and professionalism - Cocóra in addition to coffee production is successfully developing in multiple areas like educational programs by AST (Authorised SCA trainer), online store, consulting for coffee shops etc.
Can you please introduce your roastery in a few short sentences?
Specialty coffee roasters based in the south of Spain, Málaga. Created by SCA certified coffee professionals out of genuine passion and dedication to quality coffee and a complete lack of it in Andalusia.
What is the story behind your name and logo?
The name Cocora comes from a very unique and special place in Colombia - the Cocora valley. We were inspired by its vibe and the spectacular scenery of its famous wax palm trees - the tallest in the world. Of course we wanted to reflect a piece of it in our logo. Those who have had the chance to visit this place will definitely get it.
What is the hardest part about being a roastery?
Selling coffee is the hardest part.
What is the one thing people still don’t get about coffee?
We believe that there are two types of consumers - those who care about quality and those who don't. Usually it's a matter of providing enough insight about specialty coffee to convert someone who cares into a specialty consumer. On another note, in Spain coffee carries a lot of stereotypes, it's perceived as something generic, so again, one of our missions is to inform and educate.
Which one thing do you wish you’d done differently since starting a roasting business?
We wish we would have invested in a bigger roaster.
Is there a person in the industry people should know about?
We will mention a couple of people. Chris Baca (@realchrisbaca) from Cat & Cloud, he's one of the most inspirational people in the industry, he's talking a lot about people, values and the business, we love their podcast. Also we would like to mention Federico Lucas Pezzetta (@coffeeandlucas) - a very passionate coffee blogger and a great dude who does a lot for European specialty coffee community.
What’s been your biggest failure?
Because of the lack of previous knowledge in business, there have been so many. For us probably the most painful failure was collaborating and partnering-up with people who do not share the same values as us.
What are you most proud of?
We are proud of our people, being a small team of multi-talented people, we have managed to set up our first business, grow it and expand it - all done on a shoe-string budget. For our team there's no 'we cannot do it', there's always the main question - 'how can we do it?'.
How will the specialty coffee market look like in 2025?
We are fans of sustainable progress and this is also how we hope to see the future of coffee. Specialty coffee consumption will grow a lot and should continue to become more sustainable in terms of costs, production and waste management. There will be more and more organically grown coffee. Also we see more automation in specialty coffee serving, which is already happening right now. In terms of coffee people, we think that as always, future belongs to those who are multi-disciplinary, versatile and can adapt fast.
Tell us a little bit about “The Cup” - the best cup of coffee you’ve ever tasted?
The best cup of coffee is the one that you have been longing for.