Welcome to cumpa, Paul!
In February, the latest import from Vietnam reached us. Strictly speaking, it is a re-import, because our new employee Paul is actually from Tübingen, but has lived in Vietnam for the last 6 years. Now he is back in the Swabian metropolis to work at cumpa. This way he can move his center of life back to Germany and at the same time develop with his second home Vietnam and coffee.
Paul used to be a classmate of our buddy Sebbi, who works as a barista at Suedhang. After completing his education, he went on a trip around the world and got stranded in Vietnam. Here he worked as a language teacher and found his way into the world of specialty coffee. He founded his own roasting brand “Bộ Lạc – Craft Coffee Roasters”. From then on, he became part of the Vietnamese specialty coffee scene. Sourcing, roasting and brewing, he got to know important personalities and talked shop with them about Vietnam’s future in the coffee world.
When cumpa co-founder Daniel traveled to Vietnam early in 2020, it was clear that he had to meet up with Paul. Together, the two rode their motorcycle into Lang Biang to several of our partners and cupped their way through the local Arabica specialties. Quickly the idea was born that Paul could be part of cumpa, or maybe even the most valuable of our Vietnam imports.
In the course of the year 2021, we spun this idea together. In preparation, Paul visited Marian and Lim from Zanya Coffee in Lang Biang, Mr. Toi from Future Coffee Farm in Bao Loc and even our new partner Mr. Quang from Tamba in Gia Lai (Spoiler Alert).
In January 2022 the time had come and Paul could travel to wintry Germany after a negative PCR test. We are happy about the addition and excited about times together. Since February 1, Paul has been our first full-time employee alongside founders Daniel and Lukas. As a German coffee entrepreneur from Vietnamese abroad, he brings many valuable skills to cumpa. He is a professional in coffee roasting, has experience in Vietnamese language and culture, a fantastic network, and last but not least a juicy pack of creative energy and cheerfulness. Lukas and Paul also celebrate their birthday on the same day.
After the addition of Julia in November 2021, our team grows with Paul to now four employees. As a group, we want to lead cumpa into the future, expand our Vietnam business, and become even better at creating friendly networks between farmers and roasters. We are looking forward to it!
Welcome to cumpa, Paul 🙂