Interview with Daniel Moranville, Founder of KOHI Coffee Roasters
We are so thrilled to welcome KOHI Coffee Roasters back to the pack! We sat down with founder, Daniel Moranville, to learn more about his journey, the story behind KOHI, and a special coffee from his menu.
How did you get into specialty coffee?
I started as a curious home barista that used pre-ground coffee from the grocery story until I discovered specialty coffee at a cafe in Montréal. I had a flat white with a natural Ethiopian for the first time and was like “Oh, shoot! That’s… something!”. Before I discovered specialty coffee, my goals were solely focused on how to prepare the best espresso and milk-based beverages. After my first taste of specialty, I became more focused on learning more about the different origins, processing methods, etc.
When did you decide to roast?
Somewhere along my journey of discovering specialty coffee, I began to wonder if I would be able to roast coffee that I would personally love to drink. However, I soon realized that roasting would be too costly of a hobby to pursue. A year later, I got the opportunity to roast coffee for a new wholesale partner! It was actually my girlfriend’s new job that was looking for a coffee supplier, so I thought I could give it a try and I began roasting for them on a small sample roaster in my backyard shed. I did that for about a year and a half, but after the chimney caught fire twice, I figured it was time to rent some time at a roasting cooperative. Eventually my production increased and I finally decided to rent a small space with my own roaster, which is the same one we have now!
Can you tell us about the name KOHI?
A few years before I branded the business, I went to Japan with my eldest son for two weeks. We just loved every bit of what we saw there. Japanese culture fits so much with how I think about life, and the details they put into everything they do is what I want to do in coffee. So when I began to think about a name for my business, I typed “coffee” into Google Translate for the Japanese translation and found it. “Kohi” sounds good, it’s four letters, and it reminds me of Japan.
