Many customers admire the coffee roasting machine which greets them as they enter the store, but not so many realise that it is technically a separate company to the shop. Unica Coffee is run by Adam and Wes, two entrepreneurs committed to roasting high-quality, responsible-sourced coffee.

Whilst the roasted beans are already available to buy from our shelves, we’re excited to be launching a new venture in partnership with Unica. From Sunday 18 September we will be offering take away coffees! Sticking to the ethos of the shop, we will only be serving people who bring in a reusable travel cup. Further down the line, we have plans to bring in some tables and chairs for sit-down drinks, and we’re also looking into schemes that will help more people get a take-away hot drink without a single-use cup.

To celebrate this new step for Zero Green, we interviewed Wes and Adam to find out a bit more about them and what makes their coffee so special.

 1)  Where did you guys meet, and where did the idea to set up Unica come from?

A pretty unique meeting – we met whilst climbing Pacaya volcano in Guatemala. We then went on to visit a few coffee farms, which is where you could say the seed was planted, back in 2009. The mysterious Paisa (Wes) then spent the next decade living and travelling Latin America, falling deeper in love with its lands and the fruits it produces, in this case coffee!

2)     What do you look for when choosing suppliers?

Our aim is to provide specialty coffee and that means buying higher quality beans from responsible farmers/suppliers that share the same ethical values as us. We always try to look for something a little unique in the sourcing of our beans, and we really hope this is felt in every cup of Única coffee. 

3)     What can you tell us about the beans that will be used to make coffee in Zero Green? 

We are really excited about this collaboration, Zero Green is a great shop and so are the owners. It’s going to be cool working closely with them on this one. To start, we are going to be serving up a well-rounded, naturally-processed single origin bean from Brazil, and we’ve been working hard to refine the roasting profile. As a company, we’ve recently made a decision to focus on coffee from Latin America, because of the strong connection we feel for the land and its good people. After the Brazil, who knows, maybe Cuba. Coffee should take you on a journey and no two coffee journeys will ever the same, for us that’s what makes it so intriguing and beautiful.

4)     What do you do when you aren’t roasting coffee?

Being an active character who likes to eat and drink, exploring is my thing; by bicycle as much as possible. I will never bore of travelling, so discovering amazing places in the UK keeps me on my toes. I can’t talk for El Paisa (Wes) but he’s always up to something!

5)     What kind of coffee is your drink of choice? (E.g. Espresso, latte, flat white etc.)

El Patron (Adam): Cortado

El Paisa (Wes): Anything cultural, I love trying new brewing methods and learning how people from different parts of the world come to drink coffee in their unique way.