Grounded Craft Coffee

More About Grounded Craft Coffee

Grounded Craft Coffee began its adventure in 2018 in a Rotterdam living room. Founders Zahir Omar and Ibtesam Davids started there with a small sample roaster. Today, it is a professional micro-roastery with two to ten employees. The core values of the company are love, respect, science, and creativity. Zahir works as the head roaster and focuses heavily on filter coffee, specifically the V60 method. Guido Waas strengthens the team and is responsible for business development, selection, and training.

Philosophy and Selection

The roastery works exclusively with ethically sourced ‘specialty coffee’. Their technical vision is clear: the beans are roasted slower and lighter than average, creating a fresh and perfectly balanced flavor profile. However, the brand does not share details regarding specific roaster models or quality control processes. As of March 2026, the catalog consisted of twelve different ‘single origin’ coffees, clearly divided into three categories:

Espresso
Filter
Omniroast

The selection includes beans from countries such as Uganda, Brazil, Colombia, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Peru, and Ethiopia. Customers can purchase the coffee in striking 200 or 250 gram bottles, refill packs, or large one-kilo bags. For enthusiasts looking to sample the range, there are special selection boxes featuring three different coffees.

Transparency and Flavor Profiles

Grounded shares an exceptional amount of information about the farmers and the origin. A few standout coffees from the current selection illustrate this level of detail:

Bantu Blossom (Oeganda): An espresso with notes of milk chocolate, dark cherry, and liquorice. The beans are sourced from two hundred small-scale farmers in the Rwenzori region.
Diamond (Brazilië): An espresso with tones of chocolate and citrus. This comes from Cocarive, a cooperative comprising twelve thousand farming families.
El Vergel Geisha (Colombia): A filter coffee with floral jasmine and bergamot. Grown by Robinson Rozo at an altitude of over 1,900 meters.
Wachu Lion (Ethiopië): An omniroast with notes of lemon and peach, scoring 87 points. Processed by Ture Waji of Sookoo Coffee.
Lord Voldemort (Colombia): A complex filter coffee with notes of banana and cherry. These beans undergo an advanced anaerobic fermentation process featuring thermal shocks.

Packaging and Sustainability

The packaging sets the roastery apart in the Dutch market. Grounded opts for reusable PET bottles instead of traditional coffee bags. These bottles are durable, lightweight, and keep the beans exceptionally fresh. Moreover, dosing is a breeze. Customers receive a fifty-cent discount when they return an empty bottle for reuse. Additionally, the company offers refill packs. These bags are made from fully compostable wood pulp. The brand explicitly states that while they aren’t one hundred percent sustainable, they are actively working to minimize their footprint.

Business Services and Knowledge Sharing

Alongside consumers, Grounded serves restaurants, offices, and shops. Business partners can collaborate with the team at the cupping table to develop a unique flavor profile. The company provides coffee, offers equipment advice, and optimizes workflows. Education plays a major role, with regular workshops on how to brew the perfect espresso or cappuccino.

Online, the roastery publishes detailed guides for V60, Chemex, French Press, espresso, and cappuccino. The V60 method is presented as a brewing process of exactly three minutes for clear and subtle flavors. The espresso guide is highly precise: use 19.5 grams of coffee, water at 92 degrees Celsius, and an extraction time of 25 to 27 seconds. This yields approximately 40 grams of beverage.

Shop and Future

The physical location is situated at Proveniersstraat 46b in Rotterdam. The team is available here from Wednesday through Sunday, between eight o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon. Online signals now indicate that the company is moving to a new ‘flagship store’ and roastery. Coffee lovers outside Rotterdam can also order products online, including through specialized webshops such as Koffie Kenner.

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