Our Story
Our founder, Jacques Shalo, was born into the coffee world. Literally. Born on his family’s coffee farm in Cameroon, Africa, he grew up surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of the crop that would later shape his career.
In his late teenage years, Jacques decided to pursue business opportunities in the United States, where he gained valuable experience in sales and marketing. However, he never forgot his roots in coffee, and after several years away from the industry, he found himself yearning to reignite his passion.
It was then that Jacques discovered the unheard-of and game-changing air-roasting technology — a revolutionary roasting method that roasts coffee fresher than anything on the market.
With a mission to pay farmers more and disrupt the industry with air roasting, he founded Kribi Coffee Air Roastery. He established partnerships with coffee farmers worldwide, and under the advice of Starbucks co-founder Zev Siegl, Jacques reconnected with his Cameroonian roots and began sourcing our flagship coffee of choice, Mt. Oku.
Jacques established an 11-acre farm for Kribi Coffee in Cameroon and formed ties with over 600 small crop farmers worldwide. Our farmers harvest 500,000 pounds of green coffee beans annually.
Anne Shalo and her husband Luca Monopoli have teamed up to bring the culture, beauty, and coffee of Cameroon to the UK through the curation of the finest coffee beans. Monopoli, originally from Italy, has over 20 years of experience as a chef and is very passionate.
