Founders

Mazelab is founded by Jackie and Thu. Life partners, coffee lovers, and two people from entirely different worlds who met through a shared cup. What began in a café became a shared life, and eventually, a shared vision.

Mazelab is our creative playground. It is a coffee place where we roast, brew, explore, and share carefully curated coffees with curious minds from all over the world. This space is built on taste, emotion, design, and the quiet excitement of discovering something beautiful in the cup.

The Background

From Design to Deep Flavor

Before coffee became my world, I lived in the world of design.

I was on a path to continue my creative career in San Francisco when a period of soul-searching, travel, and landscape photography changed everything. In the middle of Iceland’s vast terrain, a new vision came to me. To create a space where coffee and photography could coexist.

That idea became my first café.

At first, people noticed the latte art. The visual, tactile nature of coffee felt familiar to my design background, offering an immediate outlet for expression. But very quickly, I realized that coffee runs much deeper than the surface.

It wasn't just about the aesthetics. It was about taste, aroma, texture, and memory. It was a complete sensory experience.

That realization changed everything. Coffee evolved from a drink to be served into a craft to be studied, felt, and understood. It led me to create Mazelab, a space dedicated to the many layers of coffee, from the quiet details of brewing to the complexities hidden inside each bean.

The Roastery

Listening to the Bean

After six years in the specialty coffee industry, I felt the need to go deeper.

In May 2023, I officially launched my roasting project. I wanted to understand coffee from the very beginning of its final chapter, from green bean to cup. The more I explored roasting, the more I realized my passion lay not just in serving great coffee, but in guiding its transformation.

Roasting is where I listen to the coffee.

For me, it is never about chasing a dogmatic light or dark roast. It is about finding the exact intersection where a coffee reveals its true character most clearly. Some coffees demand delicacy, while others require structure. Some express themselves through vibrant florals and crisp acidity, others through deep sweetness and rich texture.

The goal is always the same. To showcase the inherent complexity of the bean without forcing it into a standardized style. Every roast at Mazelab is guided by palate, precision, and a profound respect for the producers, farmers, pickers, and processors who shaped the coffee long before it arrived in Prague.

My Coffee Journey

The Coffee Collector

I see myself as a coffee collector.

I am not looking for the most expensive lot, the rarest variety, or the origin everyone is talking about online. I look for coffees that move me. Coffees that feel distinct, expressive, and alive.

I do not collect origins like a catalog. I collect coffees that I love.

Sometimes that means discovering a hidden gem from a microscopic lot. Sometimes it means returning to a familiar producer because their harvest speaks beautifully once again. What matters most is never the label, it is the experience in the cup.

This pursuit is what keeps me curious. Every coffee has the potential to surprise. A delicate aroma, an unexpected flash of sweetness, a beautiful texture, a finish that lingers, these small discoveries are our treasures. They remind me why coffee is an endless journey, and why it is worth paying attention to.

My goal is simple. It is share these discoveries with you. To bring you coffees I truly believe in, sourced by taste, roasted with care, and served with the hope that you feel something when you take your first sip.