Our Story
Early Days
Founded in 2005 by two friends with oodles of passion for coffee in a small industrial unit in Derbyshire. Back then it was very basic, we didn’t have roasting software nor had we heard of speciality coffee. All we had was a 2nd hand Italian Trabattoni coffee roaster and most of the hessian sacks of green coffee beans hailed from Brazil or Colombia. Back then, colour of the beans was the only way we knew to roast.
Expansion
Over the next 10 years the business and the team grew and we were supplying an array of hospitality venues nationally.
Two relocations later and we are now situated on the historic Courteenhall farming estate in Northants. The Trabattoni roaster has been replaced with world class Giesen Roasters, Cropster coffee profiling software and a dedicated coffee roasting team overseen by Felix, our Head of Coffee.
Our Approach
Sourcing
Great coffee starts with careful sourcing and Felix (Head of Coffee) is always searching for new, exciting, ethical coffees, whether it’s from a women’s co-operative in Mexico or small-holder farms in Ethiopia. Years of coffee roasting experience helps his search as does his three years spent in Central and South America visiting and working with coffee producers on their farms and washing stations.
Roast
Once we've selected a coffee that we think you’ll love, We then focus on achieving a flavour profile that will showcase it at its very best. Our role is to highlight what makes that particular coffee exciting and unique, Whilst not changing it to be unrecognisable. To achieve this requires a mix of experience, understanding the science of the roasting process and of course, having world class roasting equipment and software helps too.
Our impact
Environmental impact
We’re committed to doing everything we can to minimise our impact on the environment. But we’re on a journey and have lots more to do. Here's some examples of our progress to date:
Provenance
We try to select coffees that taste delicious and have sustainable credentials. Forager, our seasonal blend, currently combines two such coffees. Zongolica coffee, a women only co-operative in Mexico uses sustainable farming practices and agro-ecosystems, eg forest conservation, to preserve the region's biodiversity. Finca Liquidambar in Honduras are fully committed to sustainability, they even make their own compost with the help of Californian Red Worm.
Transport
Half of our company vehicles are fully electric. And the majority of the roastery team commute on bikes or carshare. All of the green coffee we buy is transported on ships. Our Sugarcane decaf is decaffeinated at source rather than being shipped around the world to remove the caffeine.
Energy
Our Roastery is fuelled from Sustainable energy suppliers (where possible). Our packaging is either recyclable or Co2 neutral and when it’s possible we’ll be introducing compostable packaging too.
Waste
One of the by-products of roasting coffee is a nitrogen-rich chaff. The farmers on our estate collect it and use it as compost on their farm. Around 75% or our roastery waste currently gets recycled. We’re working hard to get that to 100%.
Local Community
Probably the area we have most work to do. We only moved to our new Roastery in 2022 and as such are still bedding in. In the course of time, we aim to connect with the local community through a variety of projects and initiatives. Watch this space.
We are delighted to work with One Tree Planted, a non-for profit environmental charity. Their concept is simple, $1 plants 1 tree in a country of your choice.
We work pretty hard to reduce our negative impact on the planet including increasing our use of renewable energy, electric business vehicles as well as minimising our waste in the roastery. But we can always do more. So, we came up with a simple concept.
For every order placed on our website over a value of £25 we plant one tree (by donating $1 to one tree planted). Simple. We hope you agree.
Who we are
David Blair
Founder
In 2005 (at our inception) you would have probably found David in the roastery packing coffee beans into kraft bags. Today, he’s more likely to be tasting new coffees, planning and driving forward our business and marketing strategies, managing the purse strings or meeting with wholesale clients.
Darren Thorpe
Founder
Darren started his career in coffee at the roaster nearly 20 years ago. These days he’s no longer hands-on but instead overseeing all of our coffee Operations, planning the future of the roastery or helping a wholesale client execute their coffee plans.
Felix Gale
Head Of Coffee
Felix has worked on coffee farms and washing stations in south and central america and has been roasting and curating coffee for a number of years. Felix looks after all sourcing and roasting at Beanworks. All new coffees at Beanworks come via Felix.
Will Harvey
Coffee training + Education
As a primary school teacher in a previous life, Will has so much energy that it's palpable at times. He lives and loves all things coffee. He has worked in both high volume commercial chain cafes and fast-paced speciality cafes too. Will oversees all of our coffee training education programmes.