We love local market shops and we love to share their stories with you. This week we have to let you know about Omnino, the young Alsatian brand of coffee! We interviewed Thomas Lesage, co-founder of the brand to learn more about their beautiful story.

Tell us a little about your journey!

Omnino was born of an alignment of planets and a joke that became serious. Firstly it is the story of François who discovered at the other part of the world that the coffee he drank daily was not available in France. At that time he had decided to return to France after seven years of expatriation and what frustrated him the most at the idea of ​​returning was not finding the coffee he adores! So he started looking for solutions to be able to bring that coffee back with him. He started going to trainings, workshops, tastings events and discovered the fascinating world of “specialty coffee”. That’s where everything started. Because slowly a small idea settled in his mind … He picked up his phone to ask me if I liked coffee. I replied that I never drank it because I found it lacks aroma. His answer still amuses me today: “Perfect, how about we set up a brand of coffee together? But you’ll see, it’ll be coffee with taste. ” At that time I was working in a big watch brand in Switzerland and I was preparing to leave for new adventures elsewhere. I told him, “OK let’s do it but we need a guy who can brew amazing coffee”. And that guy was Christophe, one of François’s best friends who immediately accepted the challenge. I discovered that the coffee that I found until then bitter and tasteless was not real coffee! And that in reality a specialty coffee can be fruity, spicy, floral and extraordinarily aromatic. Just like the wine, beer or the french cheese we all love.

We traveled across Europe to study specialty coffee and in early 2017 we launched Omnino with the ambition of making our contribution to the coffee revolution that we are currently experiencing in the East . What interests us in this field is of course the exceptional revelation offered in cup but it is especially the steps which animate the craftsmen of this exceptional sector. Our approach that we seek every day is to share our values ​​of thoroughness, progress, transparency and rehabilitation. The French often ignore it but we are unfortunately mocked for the very great mediocrity of our coffees even though our gastronomy and our wines are among the most delicious in the world. This is a paradox that fascinates us even more as we did not pay attention to it until now. The fact that we were perfect beginners at start helped us to better explain our approach. Coffee is not rocket science and just like the wine, it is a matter of patience and curiosity. We hope that in France, as we send back to the kitchen a bad wine or bad cheese, we will do the same one day when served bad coffee.

You do not sell “only” coffee, how did you choose your suppliers?

Indeed, our job revolves around specialty coffee and we want to do it as well as we can. We have selected partners who excel in their respective fields to complete our offer. What matters the most for us is that Omnino can be found in the broad sense of the “specialty” products from fine craftsmen who also enrolled in a process of progression. We also offer drinks from “Boire Autrement” which includes Kyo Kombucha, Pachamate, Moi Moche and Bon. There are the four young Strasbourg drinks that are an alternative to the traditional giant labels and who seek each in their own way to change habits: include less sugar, less waste, organic ingredients. For sweets we enlist the help of La Bäckerstub, pioneers of bio products at night, musicians by day. We also collaborate with the House of Breads, which also offer organic new recipes. Our wonderful cookies and muffins are signed Ethic Cookies, a young vegan pastry installed at the Bonhomme. Whenever possible we use organic fresh whole milk from the Schalandos farm in the Vosges. Our apple juice comes from the Rolli farm. Here in Alsace we came across an incredible number of artisans who want to make a statement. We offer products from Strasbourg Erithaj and Henner. We also have excellent tea, gathered by the young Parisian duo Kodama whose work we love.

What are the future plans for Omnino?

A court terme nous allons courir comme des dingues entre nos deux cafés éphémères et notre Citroën (rires).

In the short term we will run like crazy between our two ephemeral cafes and our Citroën (laughs).

In 2019 our ultimate dream is to open our own burner in Strasbourg. For now, we roast our coffees ourselves but in collaborative mode. Every month we go to Paris where we rent a roasting equipment for the day. This is an ideal solution because it allows us to use advanced equipment that we could not find in Strasbourg and without having to invest many tens of thousands of euros right now. And above all it allows to share our experience with a dozen other French micro-roasters having the same requirement. In 2019 we hope to have the opportunity to invest in our own equipment that will be installed in Strasbourg in a beautiful setting. If possible a rehabilitated and original place like our Citroën who is living a second life. A bit like we do (laughs).

We wish Omnino good luck and something tells us that we will soon collaborate with them to offer you a surprise!