Designed to develop the next generation of industry talent.

Rising Stars is all about stepping outside the day-to-day — gaining new perspectives, building practical skills, and experiencing different sides of the coffee world.

That’s exactly what this visit was about.

Spread across two days at the Beanworks roastery, the groups got hands-on with the full coffee roasting journey — from green bean through to freshly-roasted and into coffee bags.
A look at how we approach roasting in practice: balancing precision, intuition, and consistency at scale.

Tours were led by Rob, our Roastery Ops manager, walking the delegates through the entire process, from green coffee bags into the roaster, to bagging and sealing roasted coffee beans.

Then onto the espresso machines, where theory meets muscle memory. Fran and Will, our fabulous barista trainers, taught these guys everything they know. How to ‘dial in’ the coffee machine, milk texturising and pouring techniques, and they even experimented with some ‘summer drink’ creations.

Working across manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic machines, the focus was on building real-world instinct — understanding how different equipment influences extraction, workflow, and ultimately, flavour in the cup.

Because programmes like Rising Stars aren’t about observation — they’re about immersion.

“Great first day with the Catering Rising Stars Academy at Beanworks. All the candidates were so enthusiastic, you could literally see and feel them gaining in confidence as the day progressed. David, Will and Fran at Beanworks were the perfect hosts, the day was so informative, fun and inspirational.”

Helen Lloyd from Stratford Garden Centre

It was so good to have the next wave of the industry in the roastery — sharpening skills that they can take back into their own businesses.