Callao Coffee - About Us...

About Us
Originally a roaster retailer, operating four coffee shops in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia, the company sold its retail locations in order to focus on roasting, distribution and serving its network of partners.

In 2009, the company was acquired by Callao Coffee Holdings, and rebranded as Callao Coffee Company. Since the acquisition, we have been investing significant resources in upgrading every part of the company.

We are continuing to roast coffees using the finest beans available from around the world. In addition to marketing our own brand of handcrafted coffees, Callao also partners with cafés, restaurants, kiosks, bakeries, distributors, fundraising organizations, and others to promote and grow their brands. Our coffees are sold and distributed across the United States and Canada.
Our Roots
And while Callao was founded in Virginia, its roots go back generations, to India and East Africa.

Our in-house buyer, Karim Moledina, is the grandson of Ebrahim Moledina, who emigrated from the coastal state of Kutch in India to East Africa in the late 1800’s. Ebrahim was sent to East Africa (a British Colony at the time) at the age of eight years by his family to escape the poverty of India and to seek new opportunities. He eventually settled in Bamunanika, Uganda, about 30 miles north of the capital Kampala. He became a farmer of coffee and cash crops such as sweet bananas, maize, cassava, potatoes, and fruits. His son Hassan Moledina became a trader and exporter of coffee and in the mid 1950’s, established his own company which by the early 1960’s was one of the leading exporters of coffee from East Africa.

Karim, Hassan’s son, began his career in coffee by managing warehouse operations in Mombasa, Kenya. He moved to Nairobi, Kenya, home of the world’s longest running coffee auctions, in 1992, and became fully immersed in the world of tasting, blending, buying, and exporting coffees. Eventually he was responsible for directing all coffee exports and quality control for coffee from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi, which required him to taste between 200 and 300 samples of coffee each day.

Karim is a licensed coffee expert and liquorer, as certified by the Coffee Board of Kenya. He was elected to the Board of the Mild Coffee Trade Association of Eastern Africa and later the Kenya Coffee Trade Association. In those capacities, he was actively involved in the liberalization of the coffee industries in Kenya and Tanzania.

Karim leads our team of coffee experts that enable Callao to produce some of the finest coffees available today.