Daniel and David Sanchez run Miro Coffee in Zurich, a coffee roastery, two cafés, and offer coffee from their coffee truck. Philipp spoke with them about their roasting philosophy. Openness is key if you want to be successful in specialty coffee.
"Today we roast differently than we did six years ago," Daniel Sanchez tells me. Back then, in 2014, Daniel started roasting coffee at a gas station. An unusual place for a coffee roastery, but one that sticks in your mind. At the beginning, Miro Coffee roasted much lighter and "quite edgy," Daniel mentions in the conversation. Soon after, the Sanchez brothers launched a coffee truck, with which they served coffee daily in front of ETH Zurich. There, they could gather a lot of feedback and met a broad audience.
"From construction workers to physics professors, we make coffee for everyone."
Daniel Sanchez
The numerous feedback helped refine their roasting language. It is always an exciting process for every roastery to develop its own roasting approach.
There is one's own idea of how specialty coffee should taste. Then there are personal preferences for certain coffees. And then there are the customers who need to be found for one's own preferences so that the strategy works out. The more open a roastery is in this regard, the more it allows itself to make a narrower or wider balancing act.
"We have simple specialty coffees, but also those that don't taste like coffee at all anymore – so there's something for everyone." Daniel brewed me a washed coffee from Ethiopia that was floral and tea-like, but still tasted like coffee. The espresso from Colombia afterwards was definitely no longer a coffee for the masses – it was a fruit bomb of a coffee that tasted like a dessert, especially as a cappuccino.
Daniel Sanchez from Miro Coffee, Zurich
Grow organically and stay open at Miro Coffee
Today, Alfonso roasts with the 5kg Probatone roaster. Alfonso comes from Southern Italy and grew up with dark, Robusta-heavy espressos. "When I bring coffee from here to my family, they wave it off. They say it's not coffee, it's nothing," Alfonso jokes and laughs. Coffee is a cultural asset, and our origins shape how we all understand coffee.
The roastery is separated from the café by a glass wall, offering insights into the craft. There are no secrets, and that's why I visited Miro. They see themselves as craftsmen, not artists.
Next to the roastery is the office, which is constantly filling up a little more. Here, David, Daniel, and the growing team take care of the café, green coffee purchasing, marketing, and the further development of the company.
"We're not stressed," Daniel tells me, "and we don't have to grow at all costs. But we do want to grow, however: organic is the keyword."
Daniel Sanchez
And Miro Coffee wants to remain open – and continue to focus on the people they see every day. They are now at Zurich's main station, where they will meet commuters – and there are incredibly diverse coffee preferences there. Just as we at Kaffeemacher in Basel station, or Adrianos in Bern station offer specialty coffee, Miro is now joining them in Zurich.
David Sanchez in conversation with Philipp Schallberger
Not loud, but present and prudent
I've known Daniel since 2014, when we met at the Barista World Championship in Rimini. Then, in 2015, he served me a coffee at the Swiss Filter Coffee Championships. He was a participant, I was on the jury. I then had to give him feedback and tell him he would be disqualified because he had exceeded the time limit.
Championships are emotional affairs, and not everyone manages to remain calm – especially at a moment when you've actually served a good coffee but are then disqualified. Dani did. He accepted it, stayed cool and said that it was all about the coffee anyway, and not about him.
These words stuck with me. After my last visit in September, I realized that he didn't just mean it, but that Miro Coffee works that way. Miro Coffee puts good coffee and craftsmanship first. Without attitude, yet trendy – it's great that you are helping to shape the Swiss coffee scene.
