OR Coffee Roasters

OR Coffee Roasters was founded in 2000 by Tom Janssen, roasting out of a small coffee shop in Aalst at a time when specialty coffee was essentially unknown in Belgium — there was no established local scene or vocabulary for what the roastery was doing, only the beginning of one. The coffee is hand-roasted on Probat machines, and the operation runs on solar power, an environmental commitment built into how the beans are actually produced rather than added afterward as an offset.

That same commitment extends to packaging, which is fully recyclable or biodegradable rather than following the industry-standard foil-lined bag.

Starting in 2000, years ahead of when specialty coffee reached most of Belgium, gives OR a founding claim distinct from roasteries that entered an already-established market. The solar-powered roasting and recyclable packaging aren't recent additions layered onto an old identity — they're consistent with a roastery whose founder was already working outside the mainstream from the start. For Ghent, OR represents one of the country's earliest specialty operations still running on the same hand-roasted, solar-powered model.