Pay attention when you’re walking into one or the other hip coffee shop in Luxembourg, and you’ll spot a cheeky tongue logo inviting you to pick up an unusual coffee pack. Behind the Curious Buds logo is Malaysian native Junn Loh, a coffee dealer with the ambition of making coffee drinking a fun and special experience.
Carefully curated coffee for curious customers
Honey melon, orange zest, hazelnut, bubble gum--the average person for whom coffee is mere fuel for energy might not pick up the hints you can taste in specialty coffee beans, but Loh is passionate about sharing her knowledge with the world.
With five years of experience as a specialty coffee barista and later Head of Coffee position in a Parisian business, Loh knows her stuff as a coffee specialist. “In Paris, it’s a sought-after profession so when I was there, I applied to a specialty coffee shop. I was trained by the people who were already there and who had the know-how. I was so lucky to be in the right place at the right time and just pick up the knowledge there,” Loh explains.
I try to play with their palate by choosing contrasting [coffee] flavours.
With the knowledge and contacts she picked up during years of brewing, coffee fairs and exchanges with different professionals all over the world, Loh now selects different coffees from a rotation of roasters. Her aim: “Make people taste different things and discover new coffees. I try to play with their palate by choosing contrasting flavours.”
On Curious Buds’ website--built by Loh’s partner Arnaud Gallais--customers can sign up for customisable monthly subscription boxes and find personal reviews for each coffee the company sells.
A change in plans
Though upon arrival in Luxembourg Loh had ambitions to open a café, the pandemic (and the well-known difficulty in finding an affordable space) pushed her to review her business plan.
“During the pandemic I was trying to buy coffee from different roasters,” Loh reminisces. “I wanted to buy something from Munich but it was €15 for shipping! And then I found something from Copenhagen, Helsingborg, Oslo… But I didn’t want to pay €15 for every bag of coffee. So I thought, ‘Wow, there must be some other people like me looking for something similar in Luxembourg.’”
Specialty coffees, sourced ethically from all over the world, are in Junn Loh’s repertoire. Curious Buds
And so, Curious Buds, a subscription box with an international, ethical, and surprising coffee selection was born.
Officially launched in 2021, Curious Buds “like every business, was a long process.” And a hard one. “When you start your own business, you will face a lot of rejection, and I think nothing prepares you for that,” says Loh. “And when you start your job, if it’s something you’re passionate about, somehow you take it more personally.” This is especially true for Loh who does everything herself, from designing the logos to delivering the packages.
The specialty coffee--with a quality grade of at least 80 out of 100--is sourced from roasters who make sure to remunerate coffee bean farmers at a fair rate. This, for Loh, is important to discuss when she discovers a potential brand to introduce to her customers.
While Loh and her partner had been thinking about the project since before arriving in Luxembourg in 2019, it was during the pandemic that they were able to start building an online base. “It was nice that we were able to build this global community when everybody was stuck at home. I was able to talk to people in South Korea, Australia, Slovenia, and more,” Loh says.
At the time of writing, the business was delivering products to customers in 38 countries.
Local connections, collaborative spaces
Indeed, Curious Buds isn’t just about sourcing and curating specialty coffee--for Loh and Gallais, it’s also about fostering a community and creating links between people.
“Luxembourg isn’t that big so it’s nice to meet our customers and introduce myself and put a face to the brand.”
With the international attention they gathered online came interest from locals too, with whom Loh connects by organising coffee tastings or delivering, when possible, the subscriptions by bike. “Luxembourg isn’t that big so it’s nice to meet our customers and introduce myself and put a face to the brand,” the entrepreneur says.
This approach of showing up personally also allowed Loh to organise a few pop-ups at the Mesa Verde restaurant or at Kontur, where she still sells some of her products. “I realised there is a growing community and I wanted to be part of it,” Loh explains.
Café soon to open
More recently, at the start of August, Curious Buds was given a chance to develop further. Socialising with locals, Loh and her partner met the owner of the Foundry, where the city’s . One week and a proposal later, the coffee dealers were offered the Backyard’s indoors space, from the morning to the late afternoon.
The café should open sometime in September, says Loh, though a definite date hasn’t been set. Subscription boxes will continue to be offered, but Loh has plenty of ideas for the new space too, like workshops of all kinds, art exhibitions, or dancing classes. “We want to try different things, you know? Curious buds stands for ‘curious tastebuds’ and ‘curious buddies’.”
And though specialty coffee will always be the core of Curious Buds, “we want to get more curious people around and talk about loads of things, not just coffee.”
