
When Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth give up their workplace jobs to promote specialty robusta from a trestle desk, few within the espresso trade took them critically. World Espresso Portal speaks to Shohet about constructing one of many UK’s most provocative espresso chains, the conviction that began all of it, the gamble that modified the whole lot, and why, at greater than 130 shops and counting, they’re solely simply getting began. Phrases by Tobias Pearce
By 2013, the specialty espresso motion had already spent a decade defining itself towards robusta. The Third Wave had planted its flag firmly in origin-forward, terroir-driven arabica, and was deeply sceptical of something related to commodity blends or prompt espresso.
Towards that orthodoxy, two college roommates with £20,000 of financial savings between them and a rented espresso machine determined that specialty espresso had all of it fallacious.
That conviction grew to become Black Sheep Espresso.