Interview with: OUTPOST Coffee
OUTPOST are a Nottingham based coffee roastery, made up of a small team of the coolest, most down to earth and fun bunch of humans. OUTPOST instantly stands out with it’s simplistic but eye catching packaging, & most importantly their delicious selection of coffees… ( & there’s a sweet subscription service available for all you coffee heads out there!)
The guys focus on direct trade relationships & source only through carefully selected importers - thus ensuring the value is kept in the coffee supply chain; encouraging producers to improve the quality of their coffee and creating a better pay and support system for growers. We chat to the guys all things coffee (obv), what it’s like to be part of the OUTPOST team & what changes the guys hope to see in the future of the coffee industry..
Tell us a bit about yourselves..
We’re a small, close knit team of pals who all share a passion for great coffee! We all come from different backgrounds and most of us have worked as baristas and/or managers in cafes before working at the roastery here at Outpost.
Where did the name OUTPOST come from?
Long story short the company owner, Greg, was sitting in a sports bar in Colorado. The thought came to him while he was there that he envisioned having ‘Outposts’ in every major city in the UK. He then realised that actually wouldn’t be very cool, so here we are with a coffee roastery supplying coffee shops and businesses instead!
Talk us through a typical day at OUTPOST…
At the roastery it looks a little something like - get in, roaster on, coffee machine on, have a brew, have a chat - crack on getting beans into bags, bags into boxes aaaaalll day. We do team cuppings (coffee tasting) at least once a week to make sure everything’s tasting as it should! If we’re lucky, Megan bakes cakes and brings them in for us on a Monday…
(image above) India ‘Hoolihandloo’ coffee with tasting notes of apple, gooseberry and butter
Where do you source your coffee beans from?
When it comes to sourcing and buying from green suppliers - we go into the process with an open mind. We favour the best and most interesting tasting coffees over sticking to crowd pleasing origins, while also trying to support the same farms year on year where possible from a sustainability perspective.
What flavours and notes do people enjoy about your coffee?
This is a tricky one to answer - as different coffees are popular with different people! At the moment the Indian coffee we’re roasting, Hoolihandloo, has been going down a storm with customers. It’s super funky and bold with tasting notes of apple, gooseberry and butter.
What would you like to see happen in the coffee industry over the next ten years?
The biggest thing that we’d like to see (and we’d place bets that the whole specialty market would want to see this, too) from all coffee buying companies, specialty or not, is that everyone needs to start paying well above commodity price for green coffee. Paying farmers more for their product will only improve sustainability and ensure that the next generation of farmers actually want to make a career out of farming. Other industries in coffee growing countries are evolving, and if the money isn’t in coffee, there will inevitably be less and less people that want to take on the family farm or get into the industry. Obviously, climate change is also a huge concern, and we can only hope that changes to climate and the effects of global warming don’t destroy coffee markets.
Apart from your own coffee, is there another brand you enjoyed a TOP cup from?
I think a stand out coffee for me was Borazon by Dak in Amsterdam, an anaerobic fermentation Costa Rican. I brewed it at home and it tasted like pure cinnamon.
What coffee is the most challenging to roast?
Interestingly enough, the honest answer to this question is that every coffee is the most challenging to roast. This is because every coffee presents its own challenges and every coffee needs to be roasted in a different way but with the same care and attention to highlight its own unique characteristics. An Ethiopian coffee needs to be roasted very differently to a Brazilian coffee, so they’re all equally challenging in their own right.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened at work for your business?
It hasn’t happened for a little while (touch wood!), but chaff fires can happen and are a common thing. This is where chaff, the stuff that gets left behind after coffee roasting, can start glowing red and catch fire in the flue (the really big pipe that you see behind roasters leading upwards and out of the building!) It’s usually manageable and just requires getting the fire extinguisher in there. But obviously not ideal, and certainly a crazy thing that happens every now and again!
Do you have a favourite roasters in the industry right now, and why?
My (Rosie's) absolute favourite roasters are Girls Who Grind over in Wiltshire, who exclusively buy green coffee from female producers. This is super important as the coffee supply chain is heavily male-dominated, and doesn’t often leave room for women in coffee growing countries to get to these positions of power. Female roles in coffee farming usually revolve around picking, sorting and labour, but they are rarely the decision makers. On top of having a fantastic business model that empowers and celebrates women, they’re also the loveliest, coolest people you’ll meet AND roast really stand out coffees, with some seriously kick-ass branding.
Your collective top 3 tips to start your day off on the right foot?
Stretch! Brew! (nice coffee) Drink! (the nice coffee you just made)
What are your favourite ‘sweet things’ & why?
SØD BAKERY COFFEE MUFFINS! We don’t get a lot of sweet treats here at the roastery that are suitable for everyone's dietary requirements, so we were extra pleased when we all got to eat very, very delicious muffins together!
(We also, admittedly, eat a lot of biscuits at the roastery)
