Brussels Coffee Week
Meet Brussels Coffee Week. This project joined Open Collective Brussels in February 2021. Discover how the project is contributing to the specialty coffee community and why did the team of Brussels Coffee Week decided to join OCB.
What is Brussels Coffee Week? Can you explain the concept?
This year Brussels Coffee Week (BCW) will celebrate its 6th edition. Each year in October, we organise events for and with the Brussels’ specialty coffee scene. For now, we are a group of 5 volunteers working in different specialty coffee businesses. We organise events with the coffee bars : workshops, coffee tastings, latte art competition, etc. We try to be inclusive by organizing filter coffee trainings, where everyone can come and learn how to make filter coffee for free (all our events are for free).
What was the inspiration behind the launch of Brussels Coffee Week?
Our biggest inspiration was to create a specialty coffee community in Brussels. In the beginning, BCW was created because this community was small, and we wanted to make our little contribution to expand the network. It started in the community but BCW is now open for everyone, from a simple coffee lover to a professional coffee maker. We would like to continue to give interest in specialty coffee to as many people as possible.
Do events take place only once a year during one week?
Yes, it happens during one week in October, full of events every day. Normally, all the events take place in coffee bars but in 2020 everything was online because of Covid-19. Apart from that week in October, we have also tried to support the community during the year. We became super active on social media. Our team also created a take-away specialty coffee map, featuring more than 30 coffee bars in Brussels. For the future, our team would like to hold more events, more often than once a year, perhaps every 2 months.
Which coffee bars can join Brussels Coffee Week?
Usually it’s our team who contacts them and asks if they would like to take part in the Brussels Coffee Week. During previous editions, we were choosing coffee bars with the highest quality coffee, but this year we really wanted to support as many bars as we can. Coffee bars pay a small fee, which helps us organise various events and translates their commitment. In 2020, due to COVID-19 the participation in Brussels Coffee Week was free, but it was too difficult to organise it with little money. Coffee shops that want to join BCW need to offer specialty coffee to their customers. It means higher quality, it is an eco responsible product made by farmers who receive a fair price for their job.
Why did you decide to join OCB?
Until January, we worked with another platform for all our activities, but our team was not always happy with it because the platform was more for people who earn money with their work, and that is not what we do. Our work is voluntary for the community, but of course there is money that comes and goes for the organisation of the events. Starting your own non-profit organisation is not easy, that’s why Open Collective Brussels was the best option for us as we can use the platform for free.
You are a recent member of Open Collective Brussels, how is your experience till now?
Our team is very happy with the service provided by Open Collective Brussels as we always have answers to our questions very fast. Free access to the platform is the biggest advantage for small non-profit organisations like us. It is also great that we can receive contributions via the platform from anyone who wants to support Brussels Coffee Week and its activity. Right now, our team is looking into demanding subsidies from the government. We are happy that we have finally joined the platform which corresponds to our needs.
Follow Brussels Coffee Week in social media : Instagram, Facebook
Support Brussels Coffee Week on Open Collective platform
Would you also like to create a positive impact with your project? We would be happy to answer your questions: info@opencollective.brussels.
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