Altering Your Perception of Coffee: Selo Soda
Did you ever think about the to-die-for cup of coffee you drink every morning? What it contains and how it’s made? No? Don’t worry you’re not alone. Even if you have thought of it, are you sure what you know is correct?
The general knowledge is that coffee beans are what make delicious coffee. You can then add whatever you’d like to them, according to your taste buds, but I’m not talking about your extra pumpkin/mint something Starbucks flavors of course. However is it really as simple as that?

Sometime around one month ago, during our Social Entrepreneurship Friday event, we had the pleasure of introducing one speaker that had this brilliant “how-didn’t-anyone-ever-think-of-this” product that blew everyone away and intrigued so many questions. He guided us through the making process of this delightful caffeine boost drink we all know and love, what he and his social business are doing differently and the methods they’re using to change and improve the industry and our community. On top of that, we just couldn’t get enough of him so we sat one-on-one to discuss it furthermore.
MEET PHILIPPE BIRKER

Hamburg, Germany born and raised. He started travelling alone when he was 18; from Australia to South Africa to his home country once again but this time to everyone’s favorite, Berlin. Then moved to Amsterdam to work in the community management department of sustainable phone business “Fairphone” for 3 years, and that was his first step towards social businesses. At that time he was running his own organization named ”The Love Foundation”; which is a project that organizes all sorts of events such as concerts, art exhibitions and sports tournaments to spread love, connect people and fundraise money for water development projects in Kenya. One day in Berlin, the Love Foundation organized a party where they were selling these “Selo” beverages made from coffee cherries, which caught Philippe’s eyes. He tasted, liked, researched the ingredients, the making process and the history behind the company and contacted them. They liked his determination and offered him a position. That was when he decided to leave his job and focus all of his time on establishing a name for Selo and the Love Foundation, together.
COFFEE CHERRIES AND THE DIFFERENCE FROM COFFEE BEANS

You see, that’s where we go back to our first question, do we really know how coffee is made? Coffee gained its popularity in the colonial times, they made coffee from the beans and that’s the regular drink we’re all having today. But the thing is, the bean is just a part of the coffee cherries, the center part that is, while they either throw away the rest of the fruit, make fertilizer out of it or animal food. And that’s about it. There is no possibility for the coffee farmers to make income out of the whole fruit except for its beans.
This is where Selo comes in. They work with coffee farmers directly in countries such as Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia where the farmers separate the cherries from the coffee beans, sundry them and send them over to Selo. From there, Selo turns the dried cherries into their tasty drinks. The significant outcome of this simple process is that it enables coffee farmers to double their income by selling both the cherry and the bean!
And what Selo is trying to do is motivate the entire industry to participate in this, because if they can show that you can make a successful drink out of the coffee cherries, other companies will also start buying them. That way you can open an entirely new market and majorly improve the situation of coffee farmers.
WHATS HAPPENING NOW AND FUTURE PLANS
Selo, like any other social business, has definitely faced and overcame many challenges. But their biggest one yet has to be the European Union Legislation. 2 years ago Selo was the first European company that was making a drink from coffee cherries. Due to its success, other companies started importing the cherries, the noticeable increase in trade drew the attention of the EU. After looking into it, they decided that the coffee cherry is a product in itself and since it has not been consumed in the EU before 1997, it falls under the Novel Food Regulation, which states that any product that is new to the EU market has to be approved by the European Health & Food Commission. Well, that process takes one to two and a half years. Although they cannot produce anymore, the EU gave permission to sell the bottles that they already have. However, they are launching a new product in September which is made from green coffee beans with the help of coffee farmers in Colombia. The plan is to survive until they are able to produce again, lobby as much as possible and spread Selo to the whole European market.

Philippe’s great contributions to Selo cannot be overlooked, he managed to blend the coffee cherry drinks with the Love Foundation; they throw great parties and other events and the money contributed to it goes to a good cause. They started a new record label “Hug Record” –we give a hug to the ear, we give a hug financially to social projects- the money that goes to buying music from the record label goes into one of the projects of the Love Foundation which translates into more funding. Since they are situated in 8 cities around Europe and work with a lot of clubs, they have the opportunity to market Selo in all of them! Such a clever mix!
A MESSAGE TO YOU from Philippe Birker

“People should become more aware of what they are buying and what the production process behind it is. They supply chains that we have nowadays are very inefficient and waste a lot of resources. We can change this if we show the industry that we care and the best way to do this is by supporting companies that are uncovering these issues, such as Fairphone and Selo. Generally people should just be more aware of their environment and the consequences of their actions”

They’re going to make an “education” section on the Selo website; about coffee, its history, background and coffee farmers, so keep an eye out for that on their official website and for the new beverages out next month! Don’t miss out on the amazing events organized by the Love Foundation, which you can keep up with by liking their Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/selosoda/
https://www.love-foundation.org/Amsterdam/
Photo Credit
Cristian Perozzi
