10/08/2020
So grateful to be featured🎉
We can't really add anything to what the wonderful people at Routed Roasters have to say about Maxine:
"The fire behind the team reminding us of the heart of coffee. With a background in occupational therapy she dove into coffee to bring people together...where she also ran into the love of her life."
So here is a little bit of a "highlight reel" of her (and Routed Roasters)journey...
"Sometimes it feels like I stumbled into "coffee" but the more that I think about it the more I would describe it as a divine intersection in my life where I found some of my greatest passions have met. My coffee journey actually started (like most ordinary folk) with the good old kitzkoffie until I found myself backpacking through Central and South America for two years and realised... "WOW coffee is actually a bean!". My interests were sparked and I returned to South Africa with a greater appreciation for coffee... And an AeroPress.
In 2014 (whilst working for an NPO) I was trained as a barista and managed to drag my friend Ansophi with me (who is now our head roaster). Little did we know that this would be the start of creating and owning Routed Roasters and First Light coffee. With the motto 'start small, grow tall' we started a Mobile coffee stand inside of a stationery store in Jeffreys Bay purely to connect with people by serving them a good cup. Within the next year, we imported a simple 2kg roaster and began roasting our own beans from Fred's garage. After 2 moves (including roasting and selling coffee from a tattoo parlour), a wedding, a baby and a team restructure we finally found our space where I had the privilege of helping design and create Our Home at the end of 2018 with intention of it being a gathering space for The Jeffrey's bay community. The drive behind the pursuit of excellence for me has always been my passion for people and the opportunities that coffee has created, to not only interact with people but build bridges and develop meaningful relationships. It is such a great empowerment tool.
Some of my coffee highlights have been (this is a difficult one because there are so many):
- Opening our new space 2018
- Competing in the finals of the National cuptasters Feb 2019
- Attending creative coffee week with Ansophi and coming 3rd in the Shot in the dark 2019
- Being trained by the legend Shaun Appais as a Red Band Barista trainer
What I have come to value dearly during my coffee journey is: The importance of team and prayer and how they have become the golden thread to all of our brilliant coffee experiences. That we can NEVER stop learning. And how an excellently made cup of coffee can open a world of opportunity and resource not only to the drinker but to the ocean of people who have contributed to it, all the way from bean to cup.
We are by far a small boat sailing in a Gigantic ocean but we are for sure enjoying the ride and are learning to navigate with what we have and taking in the spectacular views as we do."
