As we conclude the year 2018, it is important to take a step back to see where we have come and express our gratitude, and to pen down our hopes and aspirations for the year ahead. Spent the nights out during the Christmas period :) 2018 was our first full year of operations and the highlights were seeing the opening of 2 coffee kiosks at Civil Service College (CSC) and Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) in July and October respectively. We wrapped up our business at NUS (National University of Singapore) in May 2018, ending our 9-months operations...
I told my friends I’m going on a holiday in Hanoi. “For work or personal?”, my friends joked, insinuating that I’m there just for the coffee for Foreword Coffee’s next coffee source. “Personal la..” I reassured. I ended up embarking on an adventure to explore the coffee culture in Hanoi, Vietnam, and this is my take on the specialty coffee culture in this beautiful and rustic city. Night scene in the Old Quarter of Hanoi Vietnam has two coffee cultures that run parallel to each other, similar to Singapore’s local kopi culture and our specialty coffee scene. We are familiar...
Foreword Coffee trains and hires differently-abled persons, especially those with autism and the hard of hearing and Deaf community. Here we share a little bit of what we struggle in the workplace; to balance between creating a diverse and inclusive workforce, and having an efficient team. In a bid to improve efficiency, we seek for our employees to specialize and be experts in their domains. The cashier performs her duties with little to no mistakes; the kitchen assistant supports the baristas; the junior barista doses the correct amount of coffee grounds and pulls the desired amount of espresso; the...
Changing the world begins with bettering the self… I recently celebrated my 26th birthday. On the morning of my birthday (which was a Sunday), I had to wake up especially early to work — giving out bottles of cold brew to the runners of the Run for Good Coffee Run. It was a lovely morning; good weather, nice vibes, and leftover bottles of cold brews gave me the opportunity to give them out to the vendors of the Farmer’s Market, as well as the masseurs from the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped (SAVH). Days before the Coffee Run, I...
Foreword Coffee curates specialty coffee in Asia, promoting sustainable coffee consumption from cherry to cup. We import green coffee directly from the producers and roast them locally in small batches, serving customers only the freshest coffee roasted within the week. At the same time, we empower differently-abled persons through skills and service training, providing opportunities for employment in the coffee industry. Seated with a green tea latte on the left and my phone charging on the right (guess where am I?), I’m taking advantage of my layover in Bangkok to do some reflections on how Foreword has become over the...
