Celebrating our 10th birthday
Wood St Coffee is celebrating our 10th birthday this month and to celebrate we’ve launched a brilliant coffee that really showcases everything we’ve learnt and come to love about coffee over the last decade. Introducing… ‘Party Bag’.
PRODUCER: Luz Helena Salazar
REGION: Finca Maracay, Armenia, Quindio
PROCESS: Washed
VARIETIES: Pink bourbon
ALTITUDE: 1400 - 1500 MASL
NOTES: Raspberry lemonade & fizzy peach rings
Wood St Coffee started back in 2014 when I (Gareth) set up a market stall at Wood St Indoor Market in Walthamstow with my wife Clare on Sundays, alongside our full time jobs. We had recently moved to the area and couldn’t find any coffee we liked, so decided to do it ourselves!
Those early days were possible thanks to Tom Haigh who was working at Climpson’s Coffee Roasters at the time. He cycled over to our Walthamstow flat from Hackney to give us training on the second hand coffee machine we bought on eBay so we got off to the very best start on our first day trading.
This early support has really influenced the approach at Wood St Coffee Roasters, as we know that everyone has to start somewhere so, unlike some bigger roasters, we happily give smaller start ups the time and attention needed to ensure they are able to serve REALLY GOOD COFFEE from day 1.
Our whole ethos is to democratise coffee, rooted in a core belief that anyone can brew great coffee if given the tools, knowledge and training, whether it’s your job or something you enjoy at home. We do this through our online brew guides, coffee masterclasses and cupping events, as well as training for café teams.
Of course, it helps to start with great quality coffee beans and we’re dedicated to sourcing and roasting the very best coffee we can. Full traceability is really important to us – you can scan the QR code on any of our packaging to see the exact farm and producer each coffee came from.
Thanks also go to Blackhorse Workshop whose mission is to inspire a new generation of makers and creative businesses. They enabled us to set up our first cafe, feeding the community of makers as well as the public and roasting in a shipping container on the premises for the first 2 years of the roastery.
From our humble roots on a market stall in Walthamstow, to roasting and packing in a shipping container throughout covid lock downs, and moving to a bigger roastery in Essex, it’s been a journey. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Gareth x
