Collection: Replica 🇧🇪

Replica was born from a simple, almost literal idea: to be able to reproduce, batch after batch, the exact roast profile that does a coffee justice. Jasper De Clerck and Ester Visker founded this micro-roastery in 2023 in Herent, just outside Leuven, after building up nearly twenty years of combined experience in coffee and hospitality. This is not Jasper's first project. Before Replica, he roasted for a leading Berlin roaster, then came back to Belgium to launch Tane Coffee Collective, a Leuven cooperative spotted by The Coffeevine as early as 2020. Replica is what he himself describes as an evolution of these successive experiences: a space where Jasper and Ester can source, create and fine-tune at their own pace, without compromise. In barely two years, the result has earned them praise on Reddit as "probably one of the most consistent roasters in Europe", a listing in Le Fooding and a semi-final of the Belgian AeroPress Championship hosted in their workshop.

A Stronghold, Sun and Wind

The choice of roaster is no accident. Jasper and Ester roast on a Stronghold S9X, a fully electric machine powered by local renewable energy, solar and wind. Batches are eight kilos, which puts Replica squarely in the micro-roastery category. The brand's very name refers to the Stronghold's ability to faithfully replicate a roast profile from one batch to the next, a digital precision that lets Jasper aim for remarkable consistency on very light roasts. Because that is Replica's stance: a light roast geared towards clarity, sweetness, juiciness and balance. Jasper and Ester look for bright washed coffees or very clean naturals, with silky textures and a hint of florals. You will never find over-fermented or winey lots on their menu. It is a radical choice in a landscape where experimental fermentations often grab the attention: Replica prefers to showcase terroir, without artifice.

Sourcing with Intent, on a Small Scale

Replica does not claim to do direct trade. At the scale of a micro-roastery, that would be an illusion. Jasper and Ester rely on a small circle of trusted importers, including Raw Material, known for its in-depth work with producers on quality, pay and community development. Origins rotate with the seasons: Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Brazil. Their "White Series" highlights top-level classic lots, while the regular menu offers anything from a Panamanian Geisha to a honey-processed coffee from the Maputo farm in Ecuador, or a Colombian decaf called "Divino Niño". For their first collaboration with The Coffeevine in July 2024, it was a washed Red Bourbon from the Shyira station in Rwanda, perched at 2,000 metres and imported by Raw Material, that proved itself on the cupping table. The Le Fooding critic, passing through Herent, compared their Ethiopian pour-over to a cup of jasmine tea, before slipping a bag of Brazilian catucaí from Sítio Bateia into their bag.

Everything at Replica shows consistency between words and deeds. The energy is renewable, the graphic design is by Studio Jan Duerinck, the packaging is designed to be reused, and the philosophy fits into one sentence Jasper and Ester put on their website: "maximum impact for the people behind the coffee, minimum impact on the environment around us". It is a young, precise, understated roastery that does not try to impress with the spectacular, but with the consistency and clarity of what it puts in the cup.