Dear Visitor, may we introduce ourselves, please.We are Jacob and Marianne Boot, now 81 and 78 years old. We live in the Netherlands. In our younger years our great passion and activities centered on coffee.
Jacob got his commercial experience in the Food Industry during the "fifties".
On his business trips in the Tropics he encountered pure arabica coffee, growing high in the mountains. He became fascinated by the tremendous fragrance, aroma and taste of this product of nature. In 1960 he became director of a coffee roastery.
Ten years later we began the adventure of starting our own business. We imported, roasted and sold the very best, single origin, arabica coffees, which was a revolutionary concept at that time.
CHOICE
The average consumer did not have the opportunity to buy unblended coffee beans:
for example a pure columbia or guatemala coffee. It was a revelation that these coffees all had their own character and therefore tasted so differently! The big roasting companies sold a blend of robusta and arabica beans and the only independent decision the customers could make, was the price they wanted to pay.And so it happened that all of a sudden there was this small roastery store which offered all kinds of freshly roasted coffee beans, called after the country they came from.
A whole new, exciting world opened up for people.
For the first time they had a free choice. After having tasted the whole range of coffees we offered (colombia,
guatemala, costa rica, kenya, brazil, java and many more) they came to know their favourites. The gastronomic Press picked up this new approach to coffee-drinking : the result was a rapidly growing clientele.
Some people talk about their love for coffee as a "virus". However, once you have been infected, you are never "cured".
MUSEUM
At the time we started our business, we also began collecting coffee objects. 
In our free time we visited auctions, antique shows, local and international markets. We looked for beautiful and interesting things which tell a story about coffee in the world. This with the aim to open a small museum.
In the beginning of the nineties we sold the commercial part of our business and then limited our activities to sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm about coffee with other people.
Apart from travelling to countries of origin, we received small groups of coffee-lovers in our small museum.
Our special program included:
- A video of planting and harvesting
- Demonstrating the roasting process
- Tasting various arabica coffees , and finally
- Telling about the cultural history of coffee by showing our collection.
In this way many people became aware of the "long road" from seed to cup. And the impact this beverage has had on all aspects of daily life.
AND NOW?
We now have come at the stage that we have to take life easier. Therefore we plan to sell our collection (in one lot).Do you share our passion and are you sincerely interested in acquiring our collection? In that case we will be pleased to hear from you.
Jacob and Marianne