Roasting coffee became Ethan’s dream after walking into an up and coming roastery, which is now a main player, when he was 16 as part of a course he was doing at a local tech. The senses went into overload, taking in the smell, the warmth, the sounds and the atmosphere, and he was drawn in. A couple of weeks later he had a job there, and so began his coffee journey. From there he worked across a variety of different coffee locations, including a stint for another local coffee roasting company, before founding Empire in early 2017.

Fast forward to today and Empire predominantly supplies homes and workplaces across the North Island. Their coffee is roasted on a Toper in Napier, and the have their coffee bar and store in the Napier suburb of Pirimai.

Empire are family run and orientated, and circa 2021 partnered with Tear Fund NZ as a natural extension of this orientation. This partnership allows them to use a portion of their revenue from wholesale sales to sponsor children in developing coffee growing nations, providing education, healthcare and community support. Today, they have children in Nicuragua, Tanzania, Kenya and El Salvador.

Ethan and his family have a sense of responsibility to give back to the countries in which they source coffee from, and who knows, these children could one day be the next generation of coffee farmers. It may not be world changing, but its changing the world for one young life at a time, and they think that's pretty cool.

This month you are heading to the Chiapas region of Mexico with the Altura Montana Maya origin from Empire Coffee Roasters. This is a fully washed and sun dried medium body bean, tasting of bittersweet chocolate, dried fruits and burnt caramel.

For Ethan the go to with this origin is Aeropress, however he notes it also pours beautifully through Moccamaster, gold filter and the trusty french press. As this offering is so new to Empire each bag has a separate card attached with specs and tasting notes, along with an info sheet regarding the coffee and region.

Tell us about your experience in Chiapas by reaching out on Facebook or Instagram, and of course head to Empire Coffee Roasters to learn more about them, their range of coffee, and of course the Tearfund Partnership.