birthday reflection
As we gear up to turn a big T.W.O. years old, we have been reflecting on our journey and the friends (+foes) we’ve made along the way. Safe to say, if you’re reading this then you are in the former category and we thank you for your friendship.
A recent voice note with my mother left me with a whimsical sense of accomplishment. As we exchanged increasingly incoherent recordings ranging from her 70th birthday plans and my lack of 2nd birthday plans, something became clear. Coborn needs to stop and reflect. We have become accustomed to our typecast set by the industry. We’re the slightly odd, at times funny, merch producing brand who bleed East London and sometimes roast coffee. However, as I sat down to the voice note telling me to pause and be thankful, I realised that a lot has changed in the past two years.
In the past 730 days, we have watched (and in some instances helped) cafes open to rapturous applause. We have all too often grieved the closure of many a coffee shop run by friends. Typing out the solemn whatsapp message of condolence at the ending of a dream has not gotten any easier! Going from fighting for customer subscriptions to propping up thriving coffee shops has been a privilege and a steep learning curve. Deepening relationships with farmers, importers and other roasteries has opened our eyes to the incredible opportunities and friendships this industry can provide. It’s tempting to pat yourself on the back and say we’ve done so well because of our progressive sourcing strategy or content creation but in all honesty, we’re just very fortunate. When you observe bigger and better roasteries in decline, you can’t help but muse ‘that could have been us’. So as I listened to the final voice note from mother dearest, I felt a swell of emotion as she repeated her refrain of “I’m so happy, God bless you”.
Are we done? Not even close. The plethora of exciting and terrifying new projects and collaborations is building by the day. Taking you all on the journey with us through the good, the bad and the ugly, is something we’re determined to do.
