History

The name BOOT Coffee is synonymous with the finest quality freshly roasted coffee.

The origin is in the Boot family itself. Admiral Justus Boot sailed on a VOC trade mission in the 17th century and curiously took a first handful of coffee back to the Netherlands in a golden snuffbox. Centuries later Jacob Boot opened The Golden Coffee Box Coffee Shop in Baarn.

His fascination for coffee began around 1960, when Jacob Boot was director of a coffee roasting company in the east of the country. There his passion was aroused, the necessary experience was gained and his dream began to take shape: his own coffee roaster to roast coffees of one origin. Because Jacob wanted people to be able to roast at home, the idea of a home coffee roaster was born: The Golden Coffee Box, a small miniature copper roaster. He was too far ahead of his time; instead of roasting himself, people asked him to roast the coffee for them.

The passion for special types of coffee led Jacob Boot and his wife Marianne to open the eponymous coffee shop The Golden Coffee Box in their home town of Baarn. Here they let people experience for the first time how delicious freshly roasted coffee smells and tastes. 'Outside on the street you can smell that it must be quality inside', is one of their mottos. Together they make many coffee trips and meet coffee farmers from small plantations. BOOT Koffie still buys coffee from a number of these plantations today. Jacob transfers his knowledge of coffee tasting to the coffee planters on his travels.

In 1993 Barend and Willem Boot take over their father's coffee shop. They play an essential role in introducing the espresso culture to the Netherlands. Espresso coffee from a single plantation is known to very few people in the early 1990s. As major promoters of this single origin espresso coffee in the Netherlands, the brothers have stood side by side internationally with many authorities on coffee.

Barend Boot grows BOOT Koffie's reputation in the small market for the world's most special and unique coffees of the highest quality and moves into larger premises on the Laanstraat in Baarn. The selection, roasting and tasting of these coffees is a highly specialized job in which craftsmanship and knowledge are indispensable. With poetic enthusiasm, Barend shares his coffee knowledge at national and international events, during numerous workshops and tasting sessions. Like no other, he and his team understand the art of traditional coffee roasting. An art that they apply today to more than 30 types of coffee from 18 different countries. Carefully, personally selected and inspected.

In 1998 Willem Boot decided to relocate his coffee business and emigrated to the USA. There he is now a very well-known coffee expert with a training center for coffee farmers, coffee importers and coffee roasters. Six months a year he gives courses to coffee planters and their national organizations to bring out the unique taste quality of the plantations. Regularly, he is a head referee at various international coffee competitions. He works for coffee countries such as Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Ethiopia and gives quality training courses in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico and Hawaii. Willem is co-founder of the ECAFE organization in Ethiopia and regularly highlights the best Ethiopian plantations in cooperation with the Ethiopian government. He also works closely with coffee exporters from Yemen, including Mokhtar Alkanshali. Willem regularly visits plantations for BOOT Coffee from which the company buys coffee. In the last 15 years Willem has also established plantations with others in Ethiopia (Gesha Village) and Panama (Finca la Mula and Finca Sophia). Their coffees regularly win prizes.

Since 1973 BOOT Koffie has been guaranteeing the best quality coffee, from plantation to cup. Barend Boot's promise is: "Our coffees give depth, moments of enjoyment, alone and together. They 'wash' clean, have a purifying effect and are like a shower for the spirit." Coffee as a sensory experience. Enjoyment is not a goal in itself as far as we are concerned; sharing is. Striving for excellence and craftsmanship are our key values. With a wide range of workshops, courses and tastings in addition to the extensive selection of freshly roasted coffees, BOOT offers many opportunities to develop or further enhance a passion for quality coffee.