day9.coffee day9

Athens · Greece

Taf Coffee

Since 2009 · Yiannis Taloumis, Ellias Taloumis

Visit website Instagram

Overview

Taf began as a Greek-coffee importer and ibrik roastery launched by brothers Yiannis and Ellias Taloumis in the early 1990s. The pivot to specialty came around 2005-2006, and Yiannis opened the Taf café on Emmanouil Mpenaki in 2009 — effectively the start of Athens's third-wave coffee scene. Head barista Stefanos Domatiotis won the 2014 World Brewers Cup, and Yiannis himself received the SCAE Coffee Excellence Innovation Award in 2011 and the SCAE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Known for

  • Started Greek third-wave coffee scene with the 2009 Athens café
  • Stefanos Domatiotis (head barista) won 2014 World Brewers Cup using Taf coffee
  • SCAE Coffee Excellence Innovation Award (2011) and SCAE Lifetime Achievement Award (2014) for founder Yiannis Taloumis
  • Three Probat roasters; smallest reserved for Taloumis Family Limited Reserve nano-lots
  • Long-running direct-trade exclusivity programs with farms like La Palma y El Tucán in Colombia

Why it matters

Taf is the reason Greece has a specialty coffee scene at all. Before 2009, Athens coffee culture was dominated by torrefacto and ibrik traditions; Yiannis Taloumis's pivot from family Greek-coffee importer to direct-trade specialty roaster gave the city its first lighthouse and trained a generation of competition baristas in the process.

Production

destoning
null
head roaster
Ellias Taloumis
color sorting
null
roaster machine
Three Probat roasters (largest for blends, smallest for Taloumis Family Limited Reserve nano-lots)
filter equipment
null
cupping frequency
null
roastery location
Attica, Greece (outside central Athens)
espresso equipment
Modbar (since late 2017; previously La Marzocco Strada)
annual volume tonnes
null

Café

Emmanouil Mpenaki 7, Athens

Recognitions

  • SCAE Coffee Excellence Innovation Award (2011)
  • SCAE Lifetime Achievement Award (2014, Yiannis Taloumis)
  • Stefanos Domatiotis — 2014 World Brewers Cup Champion using Taf coffee

Sources

More roasters