We've bean busy! Local Zero partner with Moon Roast Coffee
On this week’s blog we are introducing another of our partner suppliers, Moon Roast coffee.
A LOCAL FAMILY BUSINESS
A family business, Moon Roast is a small batch coffee roastery based in the heart of rural Hampshire. Inspired by family heritage in the coffee and tea trades spanning four generations. Not only do they have excellent credentials when it comes to ethical and sustainable working practices, it goes without saying, that their coffee is delectable.
As coffee lovers, Local Zero have been big fans of Moon Roast for a while, so we were keen to get them on board as partner suppliers for our new home delivery retail platform. Based in a rural location on the outskirts of Alresford, with stunning views of the Hampshire Countryside, Fran Bradshaw and his expert team roast at least twice a week; this ensures that their coffee is always in its freshest form.
Local Zero are delighted to be stocking a range of freshly roasted Moon Roast Coffee, which will be available to buy as refill or off the shelf when we launch later this year.
A RICH HISTORY
Looking for a change of scenery from his career in Agriculture, in 2012 Fran commissioned a Probat coffee roaster in a barn in his backyard and began at night after work. Whilst this was a new venture, Fran was by no means a newcomer to the industry; inspired by family heritage in the coffee and tea trades spanning four generations, Moon Roast has a rich and interesting history…
Frans, great grandfather, Richard Goodwin Bradshaw or ‘RGB’, as he was more commonly known, joined the principle City of London tea broker, Wilson Smithett in 1895. (Wilson Smithett were also involved with other commodities including coffee, cochineal beetle and rubber as well). RGB became an expert in trading and blending tea from Ceylon, auctioning the imported tea and coffee at Plantation House in Mincing Lane ‘the street of tea’. His grandfather, Dorman Bradshaw, also worked as a broker at Wilson Smithett, before joining up and serving as a Major in the RASC in the Second World War. Frans father, Following the family tradition, Frans father Haydon Bradshaw began tea tasting with Lyons before moving to Wilson Smithett as a broker. He travelled to Ceylon and worked in Colombo (with closely associated Forbes and Walker) then he went on to work at the Dickwella tea estate. From there he worked at Nestlé, where he was involved initially with instant tea research, before moving to coffee. He then continued as a coffee consultant for the remainder of his career
ORIGIN & SELECTION
Moon Roast always source their coffee as directly from origin as they are able, and with their high-grade, 100% Arabica beans come straight from small farms in coffee-growing countries like Rwanda, Kenya and Guatemala. Their coffee is seasonally selected at the roastery through the process of sample roasting and cupping when shipments of new season coffee have landed. Their speciality grade coffees are graded >80+ by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), Q grader (which is a standardised international quality score), this means their coffees are always of consistent high quality.
At the roastery they balance temperature, time, airflow and drum speed to highlight the best flavour notes of the coffee, paying close attention to detail during the roasting process, and focusing on cupping post-roast to ensure a consistent profile.
SUSTAINABLE/ETHICAL
By only sourcing speciality graded Arabica coffees, Moon Roast are able to ensure the small-holder farmers receive the right price for their coffee and that their farming practices remain kind to the environment.
From the Hampshire roastery they are taking steps to mitigate their impact on the environment in a number of ways;
- composting used coffee grounds from their roastery shop
- supplying compostable take-out coffee cups and lids
- using packing boxes and tape are compostable
Going forward they aim to use all sustainable packaging and are exploring recyclable and biodegradable coffee bags.
FANCY A REFILL?
Whilst the coffee itself isn’t grown on our doorstep, we are big on supporting local independent businesses, especially when they share our passion for sustainability, so Moon Roast definitely ticks all the boxes.
When our retail website launches, Moon Roast coffee beans will be available to buy from Local Zero, with the option to choose either ready packed into vacuum sealed bags for total freshness (these are completely recyclable and can be collected by Local Zero) or as a refill to minimise packaging waste.
Going forward, we do plan to expand our range of coffee, subject to the needs of our customers, so if you know your decaf from your cafetiere, we would be really interested to hear your feedback and understand your preferences, so if you’d like to take part in our research, sign up to be part of our Local Zero Hero community www.local-zero.co.uk/help, or get in touch via our email shop@local-zero.co.uk