[Meet] Jaco & Nick - Flight Lieutenants

Jaco and Nick head up the WINGS Coffee Roasters Stellenbosch. Nick is a local musician and Jaco is a SAAF pilot. With both having a passion for handmade artisanal products and the idea of creating a space where people can get together and build relationships, their search started for a means to do all this…and they found the answer in WINGS Coffee Roasters.

 The idea of opening the second departure point for WINGS Coffee Roaster, originated in August 2015, with Justus du Toit providing the necessary professional training and guidance. The Flight Plans for the Stellenbosch hangar were drawn up over the following months, resulting in the first departures cleared for take-off in February 2016.

 Jaco and Nick take great pride in their work ensuring that each batch of coffee is roasted with precision. They enjoy the fact that the roasting process requires a deep understanding of coffee and the various stages it goes through to reach perfection. The roasting process answers to personality traits inherent in both of them, namely; the precision found in aviation, reflected by the meticulous way in which each batch is controlled to provide the absolute best tastes; as well as the art of roasting, as each batch varies from the next, and the true skills of the roaster is in knowing the subtle differences between each origin.

This balance of the methodical science and the nuanced art of roasting is also apparent in the well-balanced coffees produced by WINGS.

Jaco and Nick enjoy sharing their knowledge with other coffee lovers, and they aim to educate their clients, so as to ensure that people know what to look for in high-quality coffee.

The Stellenbosch hangar is run very much like any multi-crew flight, with the responsibilities and workload split evenly, and the one taking over from the other, with the command: ”You have control”.