We first met Nicolás Castagno at a coffee event in Norway in 2013. He approached us with an idea for a café situated in Amsterdam, that would work with the finest Scandinavian roasters and showcase the lighter Nordic style of coffee to their local audience. The name Scandinavian Embassy came out of that idea.

“After working with a coffee roaster in Stockholm and following the Scandinavian coffee scene I knew a few roasters that were sort of pioneers in what has been known as “Scandinavian style” of coffee roasting, if there is one. No one in Amsterdam worked with any of these roasters back in 2013 and we knew that a lot of international people visit Amsterdam while in Europe and never make it to Scandinavia. Bringing these coffees here made a lot of sense.”

After working as barista for a few years in Stockholm, attending and volunteering in all kind of local and international coffee events, Nicolás felt that the industry needed to get closer to food in order to be recognized as the culinary product it is.

Since the opening in October 2013 we’ve been proud to work with Scandinavian Embassy. Our collaboration has expanded over the years, including a shared pop-up during the World of Coffee and several visits over the years.

“Today we pay attention to quality of product mainly and the values behind a company. We also value highly the originality of the coffees and resilient roaster and coffee producer relationships.

I believe the Coffee Collective represents values of quality, fair trade and social and environmental sustainability in the best way. The type of relationship build with the coffee producers is meaningful and strong and the products are unique. We also believe that Coffee Collective expertise in coffee sourcing, roasting and the overall service provided is outstanding.

We appreciate how warm the Coffee Collective is to us in each interaction and we always learn things from seeing how the company works in every aspect.”