DAN

Let me introduce you to Dan. Owner of @lufkincoffee at @pontcannamarket. Lufkin is one of the best coffee shops in Cardiff which is also a roastery. Great place to find your inner balance and grab a spectacular cup of coffee. Dan definitely deserves to be featured as a coffee hero for creating this place. This is his story:

“1) Hi, Iʼm Dan Lukins and Iʼm co-owner and roaster at Lufkin Coffee.

2) I started drinking a lot of coffee during my first job as a barista in 1998, but my journey probably really began when I started experiencing higher quality coffee that was being produced in San Francisco about 5 or so years later. Iʼve had a natural passion for coffee for a long time. I can remember one of my first pour-over coffees and being introduced to a tasting experience, and then becoming interested in the back story. What was the journey this coffeeʼs gone through to taste like that. As brewing methods developed my passion only increased with the ceremonious ritual of making coffee at home. I still love the stillness that comes over me when making coffee at home, from grinding beans to the warming end cup. I also really love the community that revolves around coffee and the connections to other creative outlets that coffee brings. I like to say that life is best paired with coffee. I love both the simplicity and the complexity of coffee.

3) Beyond the literal definition, for e.g. a high grading of coffee, speciality coffee to me is an open-mind to ʻmoreʼ. Itʼs being collectively inspired to expose somethings most authentic inherent quality.

4)With experience in coffee over some time, the next thing that peaked my interest personally was coffee roasting. Are roastery and coffee bar are in one space inviting customers to make a connection to a line of contribution, while enjoying their coffee. I love how our space doubles as a place where people can come together around coffee and at the same time function as a workshop where we can develop our craft of roasting and brewing. Weʼre passionate about single-origin coffee, we love the pure form of experiencing intrinsic qualities from a particular crop. We highly admire and are highly appreciative of all the hand work that has gone into the speciality green coffee beans that we get from our inspired sources, and we love exploring an endless variety of coffees that they send us. We take pride in the holistic qualities of our coffee, being speciality grade, arabica, direct trade, and sustainable. Before we opened in 2015 we intentionally looked for a space off the beaten path where you could slow down and really take a moment with coffee. We turned the espresso machine on its side and fronted the pour-over brew bar to open up the space for connection and conversation. Our original inspiration stemmed from the ritual of making coffee at home and the slow food movement. We wanted a very personal touch to our space and craft, and we wanted to inspire and be inspired.

5) I think the coffee scene in Cardiff has a lot of momentum right now. Cardiffʼs independent businesses are accelerating in originality, identity and quality. Thereʼs permission for independentʼs to have their own original identity, to be extremely inspired, to be very ʻhumanʼ businesses, and to accelerate their business to high places of quality. Together the independent food & drink scene in Cardiff has the job of redefining customer expectations away from those which have been long established by fast-food culture, where speed and volume take precedence over quality, ethics and taste. At Lufkin our doors are wide open and we want to make quality coffee accessible to all, while understanding we canʼt please everyone. Weʼre ok with that - thereʼs enough of those places out there. We want our business to have a strong sense of identity and we want to take pride in our craft. We want to be welcoming, authentic, true to ourselves, to inspire and be inspired by everyone we come in contact with. Weʼre creatives, weʼre craftspeople and weʼre dreamers. We feel that life is best paired with coffee, so we donʼt just see ourselves as offering something quality, but open to receive or exchange a kind of quality through lifeʼs offerings and connections.

6) I think itʼs all about process. We want to continue to enjoy what we do, and allow things to develop naturally. We try to work with that, by resisting the temptation to expand quickly, Itʼs a conscious choice to keep things simple. There are alternative ways to develop and grow than just reproducing what we already have. Any future direction will most likely be found collaborating with the passionate individuals that join our team and the creative inspiration that resides in them.” It was an absolut please to feature Dan Lukins as a coffee hero. @lufkincoffee is a look in to the future how we understand, enjoy coffee and live our life. It’s the social aspect of coffee which brings people together and I could not agree more with everything Dan wrote. Thank you for your time and all the hard work!