Getting to know the team behind Señor K.
How did the journey of Señor K start?
Señor K started with the goal of democratizing specialty coffee in Chile, introducing new roasts and educating about coffee, particularly that coffee is not just about a burnt taste. Since Chile is not a coffee-producing country, finding quality coffee was challenging.
Initially, we traveled through coffee-producing countries, establishing relationships with farms, tasting coffees, and envisioning our brand's development. We always aimed to create a 360° brand, dedicated to every aspect of the coffee world and our consumers' concerns, such as offering quality and environmentally responsible products.
Our journey began in 2016 when we launched our first Colombian coffees from Laderas del Tapias and Sausalito farms, with whom we continue to work. Since then, it has been a wonderful journey of coffee, friendship, and teamwork.
Can you share more about Señor K's approach to sourcing and roasting coffee?
Primarily, traceability is a crucial factor for us. We aim to work directly with producers, traveling annually to find exceptional coffees for our consumers. Each potential lot is evaluated in our laboratory, where the coffee is brewed in our ROEST roaster to determine the coffee's potential and what aspects we want to enhance. Joanni (2018 Colombian Barista Champion), Pedro Luis Ricardo Pineda (2022 Chilean Barista Champion), and our roaster Manuel are responsible for evaluating each batch to ensure a unique experience.
What was the inspiration for putting your coffees into the convenient capsule format?
We were inspired to improve the quality of coffee in capsules. Our goal is to allow you to enjoy the best quality coffee at home, in the office, or wherever you are. We ventured into using low-medium roasts and coffees from differentiated processes to provide a daring offering to the market. We also use compostable capsules to minimize environmental impact. In Chile, we run the most extensive and successful capsule collection program, with various collection points in different cities, which we take to industrial composting facilities.
Coffee is fuel to get us moving throughout the day, especially in the morning. What is your daily morning ritual like?
Every day at Señor K starts with coffee. The first person to arrive at the roastery prepares coffee for everyone, and we share several cups before beginning our day. We always try different coffees and different methods to foster experimentation with our coffees.
For us, coffee is all about sharing!
What are you most excited about right now and for the future of Senor K as a brand?
The world of coffee is thrilling! Currently, we are exploring new formats and new origins, such as Africa and Asia.
We are working tirelessly to develop capsules with different processes to enhance the consumer experience.
We recently developed our own coffee laboratory, where we're establishing our coffee school to train future high-performance baristas.
Lastly, we've just launched a new episode of our documentary series called "THE ORIGIN," where we showcase all the work we do at the farms we collaborate with.
