Dominic and Mandy Wyndham-Gittens were running a successful cafe in Barbados until they discovered a problem.
It was the first true Italian-style cafe on the island, but there was a problem. They wanted to go beyond Italian espresso, to find a coffee that could connect with Barbados, that could tell the Bajan story.
So they decided to make one.
Fast forward to 2014, and the pair began roasting their own coffee, inspired by their trips to coffee Meccas like Portland, Oregon and experiences with single-origin coffees.
Today, Wyndhams Bajan Coffee Roasters produces the best coffee in Barbados, a range of blends and single-origin coffees, not just supplying local hotels, restaurants and coffee drinkers but exporting around the world.
“We’re all about the passion and zest that you won’t find in Italian espresso,” Dominic Wyndham-Gittens tells Caribbean Journal. “Coffee is so expressive — so we stopped looking at it as a beverage, and now as an ingredient you can tell a story with.”
The coffees are all about telling the Bajan story: from a line of blends inspired by Wyndham-Gittens’ love affair with surfing (and youth spent in the Caribbean surfing capital of Bathsheba) to a special line called Cane Dog that helps support efforts to find homes for stray dogs in Barbados and abroad.
The coffee is, plainly, outstanding, including a newer specialty coffee whose beans are aged in former St Nicholas Abbey rum barrels, making for a unique, rich flavor with notes of cacao.
It’s all in an effort to live in keeping with the company’s motto: Bajan Days Ahead.
“We care deeply about showcasing Barbados not just as a premium destination but as a creator of premium products,” Wydham-Gittens says.
For more, visit Wyndhams.