The Story
Harry Grover grew up in Perth, Australia. He ran his family’s cleaning business with his brother for 6 years. But it was difficult to find workers since people went into mining. After gaining entrepreneurial experience in Australia, Harry moved to Singapore from Australia in 2010 to start specialty coffee cafe 40 Hands as well as work on other F&B projects with partners.
Harry saw that there weren’t many independent coffee shops in Singapore. He wanted to change that. This led him to open a cafe called 40 Hands in 2010.
But he wasn’t going to stop there. Common Man Coffee Roasters began in 2013 with one goal: to elevate coffee culture in Singapore. At the time, artisanal coffee wasn’t popular at all! The venture emerged as a joint partnership between Harry Grover of 40 Hands who started that indie cafe wave in Singapore since 3 years ago, Australia’s Five Senses Coffee and The Spa Spirit Group.
Their flagship Martin Rd cafe is their first outlet opened back in 2013, bringing the specialty coffee culture to Singapore’s laidback Robertson Quay district.
Now, they have 6 branches in Singapore, 2 in Malaysia, and 2 in Manila with Jollibee Foods Corporation!
Sourcing & Relationships
Common Man Coffee Roasters is relationship-first in sourcing. They work with coffee partners that are committed to communicating true stories, developing communities, and providing sustainable solutions for a lasting future of great coffee.
Working directly with the people who grow, harvest, mill and export our specialty coffee allows us to appreciate the role and impact the industry has on their day-to-day lives; and the many different ways this much loved product ties us together, uniting us across language and cultural barriers.
The company has established meaningful partnerships with producers in key regions. They had to build connections with coffee growers in Ethiopia and Colombia. Importing beans from small farms meant dealing with unpredictable harvests and costs going up and down.
Their partners at Raw Material have established its core operations out of the municipality of Ermera, the largest coffee-producing of the total 13 municipalities in Timor-Leste. Raw Material’s farmers are now capable of producing award-winning coffees, exporting over 90% of their output at 2x – 3x above the average nation’s coffee price.
With a focus on maintaining strong and meaningful relationships with the suppliers and communities in our growing regions, we consistently collaborate to offer our customers greater traceability and transparency along with the highest quality, sustainably sourced beans.
Roasting Philosophy
Consistency is an expression of how well your baristas are trained, but it’s also a result of quality roasting. At CMCR, we understand that for you and your team to keep your loyal customers, you need to not only give them the best product, but do so day-in-day-out. To achieve that, you need a roaster that has tested quality control systems that ensure outstanding quality with every batch.
Their team of experts skilfully roasts these beans daily to unlock their full flavour profile, ensuring every cup is an extraordinary experience. Transparency and sustainability are core values that we uphold at every stage of the supply chain.
At CMCR, these blends are carefully developed to create a distinct, consistent, one-of-a-kind flavour profile by selecting and combining sustainably sourced beans from various origins, varieties and roast levels. The aim is to balance and fuse the beans’ different flavour profiles and characteristics to achieve a unique taste representative of the roaster’s inherent style and philosophy.
After the beans are sourced ethically and delivered to us, it undergoes roasting in our expansive facility in Senoko, Singapore. Here, our experienced roasters test every batch before we deliver the beans to our cafes in Singapore where our baristas serve them freshly brewed in signature coffee mugs.
What to Try
Enjoy our signature blends at home with the taste profiles ranging from classic rich chocolate and nut flavours to bold and fruit-forward brews. A seasonal rotation of regional single origins.
Their Regional Single Origin program represents what we believe to be great expressions of the qualities and flavours associated with the respective Single Origin Coffee’s local growing environment, the processing methods used and the commitment to quality of our producing partner.
Our UnCommon Collection is where we explore unique varietals, experimental processing methods and high scoring micro-lots. We’re passionate about sharing this range of single origins as a means of satisfying the adventurous brewers among us. Be warned, UnCommon coffees are generally in limited supply, so you’ll want to grab it, before it’s gone.
Our coffees are made with 100% specialty-grade Arabica beans, delivering a rich and flavorful experience.
For those seeking the full CMCR experience, their cafes are well known and recognised for serving quality, expertly prepared specialty coffee, paired with a world-class brunch experience in the day and highly curated natural wines & fares in the night that are approachable, easy-to-understand and driven by quality.
Common Man Coffee Roasters has introduced Common Man Night Shift - new evening sessions that offers sharing plates, sourdough pizzas, and a carefully curated selection of natural wines. Starting this month, all our cafe locations will be opening till late, offering a new dinner menu in a cozy and inviting atmosphere.