Soristic, in collaboration with the British Council held a giveaway for
participants who took part in our social enterprise survey. The lucky winner
was The Caffeine Experience (TCE) and the Soristic team headed down to their
outlet in Outcome Community Hospital last month to present the prize, an iPad
to Matthew, the co-founder of TCE.
Matthew kindly introduced us to some of his signature brews, such as our
personal favourite, the Ethiopian brew (Berries Dip and Mint Brew) and also
their own take of the chocolate, After 8. Coupled with the delectable carrot
cake and key lime chia seed tart, we sat down to chat with Matthew about this
meaningful venture and future plans.
The Caffeine Experience is conceived as a platform to
give hope to ex-offenders, youths-at-risk and disadvantaged youths to lead a
better life. As an ex-offender, Matthew shared that unfortunately, prejudice
against these ex-offenders still exists. Some employers may genuinely want to
support them, but accepting them is another huge challenge to conquer. “These
ex-offenders feel that it’s a second prison”, a barrier that is hard to cross.
Awareness is key, with that in mind, Matthew wishes to have more opportunities
to share their stories which may be a small step to bigger acceptance. He also
shared “A lot of them just need a longer time” to integrate into society and he
hopes to provide his staff with a supportive environment to put their best
forward so that they are less likely to fall back into their old ways. He
wants to not only provide them with employment but also the process of
integrating back into society by “help(ing) them to grow and accept”.
Moving forward, Matthew wants to expand TCE to give
more ex-offenders a second chance and also to contribute to the coffee scene in
ASEAN by developing a curriculum for barista learning that included Asian
coffee. He wants to promote the uniquely Asian coffee culture to the rest
of the world.
Do show our local social enterprise your support!
Every purchase you make goes into the training of the baristas, counselling
sessions for staff, and other areas of staff development.
You can find TCE at 10 Hospital Boulevard
#01-04 SingHealth Tower, OCH 168582.
