Here’s how Dropboxers across the world have been connecting over coffee at home
At Dropbox, we take good coffee seriously. In fact, it’s become an integral part of our company culture. For years, our in-house coffee house and roastery, little-r, has supported Dropboxers through their earliest mornings and latest nights. Named after a phrase commonly used at Dropbox to break a larger email conversation into a smaller discussion between two people, it’s produced incredible coffee that has fueled all of our offices (and many of our homes) across the U.S.
It’s upheld ethical standards for sourcing its beans that align with our core Dropbox principles. It’s hosted thousands and thousands of coffee chats about our careers, our calendars, and our lives. It’s been the place where friends are made and great ideas are born. For many Dropboxers, simply, little-r has felt like home.
In March, when we suddenly made the transition to working solely from our actual homes with no clear end date, many of us realized how we had taken little-r for granted all these years. We scrambled to buy our own coffee machines if we didn’t have them, or to re-teach ourselves how to use our bean grinder or our Chemex that had been gathering dust in a cupboard. But we were still missing that element of spontaneous human connection over coffee that is such an informal yet integral part of our culture. So once we figured the basics out, we asked ourselves, “how can we keep the spirit of little-r alive at home?”
It all started with the creation of our Coffee @ Home subprogram, a division of Dropboxers @ Home, that aimed to preserve and even expand our collective love for coffee. And in the absence of the ability to connect with each other over coffee chats like we used to, we also created a bi-weekly “Coffeebox” meet up. Coffeebox allows Dropboxers who opt-in to be randomly matched with a coworker, giving coffee, tea, and matcha lovers alike a place to gather virtually and continue to forge relationships with each other across time zones.
Over the past few months, our employee experience around coffee has continued to evolve. Coffee @ Home has expanded to include coffee and treat pairing recommendations, tips on roasting your own beans or picking one out at the store, submission calls for Dropboxers’ favorite local coffee shops, and much more. And as we all started brewing, and Dropboxers were sharing recipes and pictures of their at-home setups, an entirely new idea was born: a latte art competition.
From across the world, Dropboxers tuned up their Nespressos and perfected their foaming techniques to show off to their friends and coworkers. Here are some of their submissions.
Want to find out who won? Head over to our Instagram for the big reveal!
