About We Are Here
British queer roastery, based in Margate (Kent). As the name suggests, We Are Here, the roastery's mission is to make the LGBTQIA+ community as visible and representable in the coffee world as possible. "We want to create a fair and inclusive space for everyone and build a business that completely and utterly puts people and the planet first."
Sustainability and ecology are the biggest priority of the roastery — all labels, t-shirts, or socks are made in friendly businesses in the area. Thanet residents get free coffee delivered twice a week. The coffee packaging is made from a recyclable compound, the same as used to make shopping bags (LDPE).
But it does not end in the region. From each package of coffee sold, the roaster donates 10 pence (about 2.8 CZK) to the Missing People UK charity. For every package purchased, The Queer One donates 10p to Gendered Intelligence. These collections run year-round (in other words, forever) and are an important part of the roastery's identity.
The We Are Here project started as a mobile cafe (a Piaggio called Fred) back in 2015. Unfortunately, Fred was stolen in 2016 and has not yet been found. However, in 2020, a roaster could be created that offers only 4 coffees — This one, That one, The other one and Decaf. "The reason is simple — sometimes in the coffee world we feel overwhelmed by all the different methods and information, so we only have a simple menu that everyone can choose from."
Select coffee is roasted in such a way that it preserves its unique qualities and everyone can prepare their favorite drink to their liking. Cooperation with ecologically minded importers who guarantee that farmers are paid fairly is also a matter of course. "We realize that importing coffee itself is burdened by an increased carbon footprint. That's why we try to find ways and methods to reduce our footprint as much as possible. We strive for absolute transparency."