The Story
Coffee Collective was founded in 2007 in Copenhagen by Klaus Thomsen, Peter Dupont, and Casper Engel Rasmussen, who remain 100% owners and leaders of the company to this day.
The timing was no accident—Klaus had just won the World Barista Championship in 2006, and Casper would go on to claim the World Cup Tasting Championship in 2008.
They opened their first café on Jægersborggade in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district in 2008, at a time when there were essentially no specialty coffee bars in Copenhagen.
The “Collective” name was deliberately chosen to represent all the key players in the coffee supply chain—producers, roasters, baristas, home brewers, and consumers—highlighting their philosophy that quality coffee requires collective effort from everyone involved.
The founders knew they were onto something significant when a group of Japanese coffee tourists visited their original café specifically to experience Coffee Collective, having made Copenhagen one of just two stops on their European coffee tour alongside Italy.
Today, Coffee Collective operates 8 coffee shops in Copenhagen and 1 in Aarhus, with over 100 staff members, and in 2021 added CEO Rebecca Vang to strengthen strategic development while the founders maintain their operational roles.
Sourcing & Relationships
Coffee Collective’s sourcing philosophy centers on direct trade relationships that ensure farmers receive proper compensation for their work, cutting away as many supply chain intermediaries as possible.
Their Direct Trade promise is concrete and falsifiable: they pay at least 25% above Fair Trade prices to producers and can document this for any customer or journalist who asks.
This isn’t just about quality—they view paying premium prices as an investment in farmers’ livelihoods, their future, and a more sustainable coffee industry.
The depth of these relationships is evident in their sourcing history: the first two coffees Coffee Collective ever bought were from farms in Guatemala and Brazil, and they still work with those same farms 15 years later.
In Colombia, they work with fixed-price contracts with farmers like Duver Rojas, Edilfonso Yara, and Jaime Casallas, whom they’ve partnered with since 2012.
Their approach targets what they call the “Coffee Paradox”—the disconnect between consumers paying higher prices for better coffee experiences while farmers often receive less than their cost of production.
Co-founder Klaus Thomsen explains their transparency philosophy: “We wanted to build a business that would focus on more transparency, paying farmers better, and working with a higher quality of coffee, seeing it through all the way to the consumer. If consumers were willing to pay high prices for coffee, surely there must be money in the value chain that could be delivered to farmers.”
Roasting Philosophy
Coffee Collective is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the Scandinavian style of coffee bar design and roasting, with an emphasis on lighter roasts and more acidic coffees.
When they opened their first café in 2008, their roasts were considered “shockingly light” for the time, marking a departure from conventional coffee roasting in Copenhagen.
Klaus Thomsen characterizes their approach: “Some of us do roast lighter than pretty much anywhere else. However, we do have a range from ultra-light to medium/dark. We generally just buy and roast coffees that excite us—that’s our philosophy.”
Their roasting philosophy emphasizes transparency over accommodation: “Our approach to roasting as light as possible without underdeveloping the coffee has been very influential in the global coffee industry. It’s more about trusting your own taste, rather than trying to accommodate a more general preference.”
The goal, according to their roasting team, is “to showcase the potential of the bean, taking in consideration the origin, the variety, the process and terroir. The result is an enormous differentiation of taste attributes between origins, lots and varieties, instead of delivering a coffee that tastes just coffee.”
Their roastery demonstrates this transparency literally—it’s separated from their Godthåbsvej café by a glass wall, allowing customers to watch the roasting process on their 35-kilogram Loring roaster.
They roast daily and deliver directly to their shops and customers, with each roast designed to highlight the coffee’s unique character, “from floral notes to deep sweetness. It’s our way of honoring the farmers who make it all possible.”
What to Try
Coffee Collective’s signature offerings showcase their commitment to exceptional sourcing and roasting, exemplified by their Hacienda la Esmeralda Special geisha from Panama—described by industry professionals as “everything you’d expect in a geisha and more,” with delicate, floral qualities that reward slow, mindful brewing.
Their Kenyan offerings, particularly from the Kieni washing station, represent some of their finest work, with one coffee professional describing the Kieni as “GORGEOUS” with “lively acidity and truck tons of sweetness,” evoking tasting notes of purple fruit.
For those seeking rotating seasonal offerings, Coffee Collective regularly features exceptional lots like their Colombian coffee from Planadas in Tolima—a region relatively new to specialty coffee that was previously controlled by FARC rebels but now produces coffees with characteristics similar to African origins.
Their diverse Kenyan selection demonstrates their sourcing expertise, with offerings from the same Nyeri region showing dramatically different profiles—from the traditional citrus and purple notes of some lots to the unique burnt orange, tropical fruit character of others featuring “funky tropical fruits, like papaya or mango or even grilled pineapple.”
Beyond coffee, their 2021 expansion into Collective Bakery reflects their commitment to quality across all offerings, producing fresh pastries daily including “crispy croissants and tangy Lemon Waves to cardamom-braided bread and rich chocolate croissants—every bite reflects our commitment to quality and creativity.”
For espresso enthusiasts, their “filter” roasts and dedicated espresso roasts work well with modern equipment, though they require careful extraction to balance their inherent brightness with sweetness.