We've brought a taste of the Cayman Islands to Washington
A sustainable coffee brand with its roots in the Caribbean is hoping to be just the ticket at a busy bus station.
After opening a kiosk at Sunderland Train Station over the autumn, Caribe has now brought its speciality brews to Washington.
It follows their business model of grab and go coffee kiosks and has been installed in a former cleaning cupboard at The Galleries bus station.
It’s only the first week of business, and more signage will be going up to direct shoppers and bus passengers to the kiosk, but Caribe business development manager, Quincy Docherty, says they’ve been warmly welcomed.
“It’s been a bit of a slower start than Sunderland,” he said. “But we haven’t really advertised yet and people are still getting used to us being in a space that hadn’t really been used for 17 years. We also have signage going up and we’ll have a couple of stools so people can sit with their coffees.
“Like the Sunderland site, it’s getting better every day though. People say they love having a coffee option in the station and have been wishing us well.”
Speaking about how the collaboration came about, Quincy said: “The manager from The Galleries saw what we were doing in Sunderland and approached us about coming here. We came to see the space and saw the potential straight away.”
“I actually hadn’t been to The Galleries for years, but the footfall is so strong here.”
Caribe, which brews all its coffee with Arabica beans from Honduras, was founded by husband and wife team Will and Ellie Carcamo who met on the Cayman Islands and the name of their business is after the Spanish word for Caribbean.
Will hails from Honduras and grew up on a coffee farm in the Central American country, giving him a great understanding of good coffee, as well as the farms where the beans are harvested.
After he moved to Ellie’s native North East with their son, they launched their business to bring great coffee to the region - as well as supporting farmers who produce the beans in an eco-friendly way - and they even pitched their idea on Dragon’s Den.
Caribe cuts out the coffee brokers and, instead, deals directly with the farmers themselves to give them a fairer price.
The cups and coffee bags used are also fully compostable and their coffee vans 100% electric.
Caribe, which has its roastery and warehouse in Morpeth as well as in the Cayman Islands, originally started life for the wholesale market, as well as pop ups at markets, but more recently expanded into grab and go kiosks.
“The idea has always been to create great grab ‘n’ go coffee with great chat, instead of sit in coffee shops,” said Quincy. “People like being able to talk about the story behind the coffee with us.”
Caribe serves a range of coffees, with prices starting from £2.50 for an Americano. You can also pick up a range of snacks, cookies and cold drinks.
Nitro cold brew will soon be installed at the Washington site.