The Niverville Nighthawks and Negash Coffee are pleased to announce a partnership to produce a brand-new Nighthawks coffee blend.
A portion of the proceeds of all sales of the branded coffee will go back to the town’s new MJHL team. The team will use the funds to contribute toward operating costs as well as any upcoming infrastructure needs, such as the east bleacher system and eventually a new permanent dressing room for the team.
The team is structured as a non-profit organization, backed by a community membership group of more than 50 businesses and individuals. Negash Coffee is one of the team’s founding members, so it was a natural decision for the Nighthawks to partner with them to create a branded coffee.
“Negash is a business that has really become an incredible Niverville success story,” says Nighthawks vice-president Ray Dowse. “Henok Gebre and his team built the business and brand from scratch, investing a significant amount of time, work, and money along the way. His heart for people and the community really comes through in all that he does, and it’s amazing to see how the community has really embraced him and his business. Negash has become one of the local companies that have really helped put Niverville on the map.”
Dowse says the Nighthawks organization also aims to contribute to the identity of Niverville. The collaboration between the team and Negash creates an opportunity to bring greater visibility to the larger community.
The two businesses may have come to the decision mutually, but Dowse says all decisions about the coffee blend itself came from the experts at Negash, owners Henok Gebre and Adam Hashi.
“It was a two-way merge,” said Gebre. “We decided to see if they were interested in doing a branded coffee, and so we asked them and they were planning to ask us at the same time. It was a true combined idea. So we made a blend, but we can’t really say what it is because the way we created it is really a different type of bean and a different type of roast. We made two types, a medium and a dark, so this covers all the bases. We didn’t think about just one person or one group, but about how we can cover the tastes from A to Z. That way, anybody can enjoy what we’ve created.”
The attention to detail that comes through in the coffee’s taste profile showcases the degree to which the family puts their heart into the business.
“This is what we love to do,” says Hashi. “There’s really not any other coffee the way we do it. We take what we do very seriously, in the traditional way. If you think about how your grandma does things in the kitchen, that’s the way we do it. We take the time to create the exact flavour we are looking for, the flavour people will really enjoy.”
For Negash, the feeling of family extends beyond the kitchen and into the community itself. Though they have only been in business locally for a few years, Gebre and Hashi have gained a reputation for going above and beyond when partnering with other local organizations and showing support for community endeavours.
“There’s nothing else like Niverville,” Hashi says. “We started our family here. Some of us live here in town. It’s a beautiful town. There’s no way to describe it really. It means so much to us as a family. Niverville people are beautiful people, very kind. We’ve grown up with this town and we are always going to be here to support other people in this town. Life is a two-way street and other people have helped us. What we get, we will also give to help them. It’s a family. It is a team.”
Hashi adds that they’ve been thinking for a long time about how to create a product that gives back to the town and has the name Niverville attributed to a specific blend of coffee.
The partnership may have come about naturally, but Dowse confesses that he started out in life with a natural dislike for coffee. He admits that it took until he was in his 40s when Negash opened before he started to come around. Ever since, he has been drinking their coffee.
“I wanted to support Negash when they opened up their new business, so I would come by for tea,” says Dowse. “One day I had ordered a London Fog, and Henok told me it was a London Smog. When asking what that was, he said it’s a standard London Fog with a shot of espresso in it. At first I thought it was odd. But after a few weeks of drinking the London Smog, I eventually ditched the tea and have been a coffee drinker ever since!”
So Dowse is now a true fan of coffee, but are the owners of Negash truly hockey fans?
“That is a trick question for Africans,” says Gebre. “We grew up playing soccer. Even at this moment, we are in the World Cup for soccer. But no doubt, we enjoy watching any type of sports. When it comes to sport, we play it, like basketball, volleyball. The only thing we didn’t play growing up was hockey. But it is certainly an exciting sport. And we like to watch.”
Hashi says that hockey is really fun and unique… but it’s certainly something he and his family didn’t grow up with back home.
“But when we came to Canada, we noticed it is the number one sport in Canada,” says Hashi. “You become who surrounds you, so since we are living in Canada we decided to adopt it. It’s a very special sport to immigrants and we love watching it. We love seeing people enjoying it and we can feel like we’re part of the community crowd, which is the backbone of the society of sports in Canada.”
Nighthawks coffee will be available to be purchased through the Negash Coffee website and store, at all Nighthawk home games, as well as at the Niverville Bigway. Cost of a standard 500-gram bag of Organic Ethiopian Grade 1 Coffee will be $19.99. There will also be a 1000-gram bag available for $39.99.
