Welcome to Steve's personal blog from his origin trip to Colombia, where he spent 10 days travelling the country sourcing speciality coffee. His blog covers his thought and feelings throughout and introduces you to some of the most amazing people/organisations that make up the coffee industry.   Day 8 – Monday 16th May A late start today, we were meeting at 8am! However, those bells were chiming at 5am again, it’s a good job I’m a morning person.  After a another negative covid test, I headed down to breakfast at the hotel. The last morning, the last breakfast, I had my heart set on my last breakfast broth, this didn’t arrive, I had to make do with a selection of super fresh fruit and a made-to-order omelette. After breakfast, we all checked out and headed to CENCOIC HQ to see their warehouse and QC labs. The two Covid cases had remained in isolation in the hotel as to not spread anything. At CENCOIC HQ we were greeted by Hernan and Coop manager Juan Carlos Guampe. It was great to see Juan Carlos again, and it was lovely that he recognised me from their visit to Sheffield in September 2019. After a quick look around we were treated to a brilliant coffee cupping. 14 coffees from across the CENCOIC estate, all very different but all delicious in their own ways. We cupped coffees from the farms we visited yesterday, It’s such an amazing feeling to be trying the coffee from a farm I visited the previous day, I love this job. After the cupping and analysis, the CENCOIC team had made lunch, my first tamales of the trip. A dish made up of meat, veg, egg and corn mixed and then cooked inside a banana leaf, it was really tasty. Nicer than they look once you remove the banana leaf. After the quick lunch we had a sit down and Elisabeth joined us. Via interpreter Priscilla, the CENCOIC team thanked us for the visit and explained why it meant so much we go out and see them, the importance of ongoing relations and the value we add to them as coffee producers. It was really touching hearing the guys talk and how sincere they were and what it meant, brilliant that the coffee we buys does make a difference to people at origin, its how it should be. We use coffee from CENCOIC in our Cooling Towers blend which is made up of Costa Rican and Colombian coffee. If you’d like to buy a bag of Cooling Towers, click  here . Likewise, you can find more about CENCOIC and the great work they do,  here . After saying our goodbyes we headed to Popayan airport, now Popayan airport is rather small, we were greeted by security before entering the terminal who had a print out of all passengers flying that day, if you ain’t on the list, you ain’t coming in! We boarded and duly landed in Bogota, there was time to kill as our UK flight was not for another 7 hours but weary from the previous 10 days we merely mulled about the airport until it was time to come home. It was a shame I didn’t get to see Bogota but didn’t feel I had the time to do it remotely properly so decided against it, I will hopefully return one day though. We then boarded the plane at headed back to the UK. Steve Hampshire Head of Coffee

Welcome to Steve's personal blog from his origin trip to Colombia, where he spent 10 days travelling the country sourcing speciality coffee. His blog covers his thought and feelings throughout and introduces you to some of the most amazing people/organisations that make up the coffee industry.   Post-trip video diary This is a summary Q&A style video, which we hope shows some of Steve’s favourite experiences and learnings from the trip, accompanied by some breathtaking scenery.

Almost a year ago I was in London queuing to vote for our new President in Colombia when I got a phone call that was going to change a lot of my plans for the week. I was being invited to visit my home country Colombia with this UK coffee called Cafeology and the University of Sheffield (where I was finalising my master studies). What I didn’t know what the trip was in the next 48 hours, as I was covering for someone that for some personal circumstances couldn’t make it. Without giving much thought into what was about to come, I decided to take the opportunity and the next day we were on a flight to Bogota. I met Bryan, the managing director of Cafeology during this trip and we visited the farms were this company sourced some of its coffee. Cafeology works with two farms in my home country, and I had the chance to meet both of the Head farmers Pacho and Elisabeth. It was interesting for me, as both of them come from completely different backgrounds. On the one hand Pacho, is the stereotypical coffee farmer, wearing his lovelyhat all day, born and raised in the coffee region of Pereira. But then, you have Elisabeth, which is from the indigenous region of Popayan, Cauca. A region that was hardly hit by violence and is slowly trying to build up creating opportunities for their community. We had the unique opportunity to visit the farms and the families that work there. For me, born and raised in Colombia, it was an eye-opening experience. Sometimes we have the misconceptions of the ‘coffee companies abroad’ buying coffee from our country but not knowing who the farmers are, where they come from or the stores behind each family. But this was different. Cafeology has made a massive effort to know and understand where their coffee comes from and it was clearly visible for me during this visit. The trip happened quite quickly and before we knew it, I was back to the University of Sheffield to hand in my dissertation. Bryan and I kept in contact and I was always admiring the work they were doing in my home country. The opportunity came along at the beginning of 2019 for me to start working part-time with Cafeology as the International Producer Development . My role consists on strengthen the links between the farmers and the consumers here in the UK. I want to work closely with the people in Colombia to show the people in the UK and everyone where a Cafeology coffee comes from. I want to show people that behind every cup of coffee there’s a story of a farm and a family that has worked for generations cultivating and producing the best coffee of the world. I am really excited to work for a company that is constantly trying to make great coffee while maintaining suitable and lasting relationships! Keep an eye on all our platforms as I will be showing the different journeys our Cafeology and the stories behind each cup of coffee!    Daniela Orrego

Last month we were delighted to announce that our Aviator Blend had been awarded 3 Stars at this year’s Great Taste Awards. The brief was clear: to create a coffee that was lighter (but not too light), brighter (but not too bright) and more complex than anything we had done before, while still appealing to our loyal customers and, of course, new clients too. After a few months of research and development, we landed on a blend of adding just the right amount of Washed Arabica coffee from Honduras and Indonesia to our fabulous Natural Ethiopian Yirgacheffe - we were onto something! Our Head of Coffee, Steve, develoedp the flavours by experimenting with new roast curves on our Diedrich IR-12 coffee roaster and before we knew it we had hit the sweet spot. If you are not familiar with this award – Great Taste is the largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine food and drink. This year, 12,000 products were blind tasted by panels of specialists: top chefs, cookery writers, food critics, restauranteurs and fine food retailers. This involved over 500 judges tasting products over various categories over 60 days between March and July.  The judges can choose to award 1, 2 or 3 stars to a product to illustrate the level of quality it delivers when tasted. In 2018 only 192 products across all categories tasted won the coveted 3 Star award. The judges comments included; There’s an intense juicy acidity to this espresso that gives up an amazing aroma of dried fruit. The bitterness is very well balanced – earthy bitterness and notes of chocolate and tobacco. A very well rounded espresso with delicious, mouth puckering, funky, fermented notes lurking in the back. Steve says: "The thing with coffee is the ingredients; the fabulous coffees grown by amazing producers across the world are the real stars to shout about. However, the challenge we face is how to communicate this to our customers – therefore we needed a name." Coming up with a name that isn’t already taken is hard enough, then to link in images, colours… wow it made our heads hurt. Then one Friday night Top Gun was playing on TV. After finding out that Maverick was already taken, we were set on Aviator as a name and it stuck!  We describe this coffee as vibrant, sweet and tropical on the label - everything we set out to achieve with this coffee.

It's ten years since the iconic Blackburn Meadows concrete cooling towers were demolished, changing forever the skyline for local residents and millions of people travelling past Sheffield on the M1. The cooling towers were built in 1938 in Tinsley and helped power the growth of one of the most advanced industrial regions in the world and became a landmark for Sheffield. However, as power stations advanced in the 60’s and 70’s, smaller sites such as Blackburn Meadows were closed and replaced by higher capacity facilities such as Drax and Ferrybridge. Even though the facility was demolished soon after closing in 1980, the cooling towers remained standing for almost 30 years, capturing the hearts of generations of local people and symbolised a special period in Sheffield’s illustrious history. On Friday 24th August 2008, the inevitable happened and the cooling towers were demolished, changing the landscape of the area forever. Fast forward eight years and the area surrounding the Blackburn Meadows site continues to be developed and we at Cafeology launched our brand new roastery in Vantage Park overlooking the iconic site. The Business park has been developed on former brownfield land with the help of investment from the European Regional Development Fund. The site has an Energy Performance Rate A and is powered by Solar energy.  This year in celebration of our local area and the 10 year anniversary of the towers being demolished, we have decided to rename our Roastology signature coffee Cooling Towers.  This 100% Arabica, directly sourced coffee from Colombia and Costa Rica is medium roasted by our Head of Coffee and SCA Accredited Roaster Steve Hampshire. This is one of six coffees within our speciality coffee range available via our web shop or through our wholesale channel for coffee operators.  Cooling Towers Facts:   – Blackburn Meadows opened 1921 –  – The Towers were built between 1937 & 1928 – – Standing 250 feet high –  – Coordinates: 53°25ʹ05ʺN 1°24ʹ17ʺW –  – Decommissioned in 1980 –  – Demolished 2008 –

This week may be nearly over, but we're still recovering from what was probably one of our busiest weeks ever last week! We started on a very sad note on Tuesday when our directors Bryan and Toni attended the celebration of the life of our long-standing customers and dear friend Chris Cregg (Places Leisure) in Lymington. He will be greatly missed. On Wednesday afternoon we were visited by members of the NatWest North Regional Board. Bryan and Toni shared the story of the journey and growth of Cafeology, which we so strongly attribute to our values and ethics, as well as chatting about sustainability and building an inclusive culture. It was great to welcome the board and share some great discussions - and great coffee! In tandem, over Wednesday and Thursday, Bryan and our head of coffee, Steve, attended the 25th Skills for Chefs conference in Sheffield. They judged the barista competition, which was deservedly won by Emily Boomer from Belfast Met, ahead of Bryan attending a talk on the Wednesday evening hosted by Jason Atherton. On the Thursday evening at the gala dinner Bryan presented Emily with her award and our newest Teamology member, Vicki Fletcher, got stuck in with serving drinks and enjoying the opportunity to chat to customers. Also in tandem (!), our director Andy and national account manager Stuart were at the NUS trade show in Cardiff, showcasing Cafeology through some great drinks and conversations. Rolling into Thursday evening, Toni and our customer service manager Lizzie attended the Made in the UK awards at the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool. While we didn't win the Food & Drink award, it was an honour to be shortlisted and sit alongside 500 people representing the best in UK manufacturing. While Friday was calmer for some of us, it saw Steve and our roastery manager, James Tibenham, jet off to the World of Coffee festival in Copenhagen. It proved a great opportunity to meet contacts old and new, learn about some new innovations hitting the market and consider some potential new pieces of kit that may benefit our operations. Steve also got to spend time with some of our fantastic producers and exporters, including Camilo Enciso from Asopep in Colombia, Hernán Vergara from Colombian green coffee traders Racafé, Demilson Batista Jr. of Legendér Specialty Coffee in Brazil, some of the teams from CENCOIC INDÍGENA DEL CAUCA Cooperative and Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) in Colombia - plus coffee expert Lance Hendrick! After a quick turnaround back in the UK, Steve joined Bryan to head to London and attend the Full Circle event hosted by green bean brokers DRWakefield. Full Circle is an annual event that connects roasters and producers through a day of in-depth coffee talks, discussions and tastings. Phew! Roll on the weekend...

What a day yesterday was! After receiving our exciting direct shipment of coffee from Costa Rica, Cafeology was last night announced as the winner of the Diversity & Inclusion Award at the South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards. The award “celebrates employers that run an apprenticeship programme which actively encourages diversity and inclusion.” The apprenticeship programme we implemented for our apprentice, Jack Coates, did not previously exist. It has been a combined effort between our financial director Toni Unkles, Autism Plus and National Food & Drink Training to develop Jack’s training course in order that he can work towards gaining his Level 2 Diploma in food and drink operations, which can be applied to coffee production. We are extremely proud of Jack and his achievements and delighted to receive this accolade.

Today marked the arrival of our second container of directly shipped green coffee from our producer partner Roberto Mata in Costa Rica at our Sheffield roastery. One year ago we took control of the shipping management of coffee from Roberto’s farm, enabling us to ensure sustainability in each aspect of this supply chain. After travelling by sea, the 20-tonne shipment travels through London’s Gateway port. The port’s rail links means we can slash the shipment’s carbon footprint by 50% compared to road haulage. It was then all hands on deck for Teamology to unload the coffee after its 5,377 mile journey. It’s a really special feeling for us seeing the coffee arrive as it reaffirms the 16-year-long personal relationship we have with Roberto. Pura Vida!

We're feeling honoured and humbled today as we reflect on two fantastic results from last night's Made in Sheffield Awards 2024. We were delighted to be named winners in the Food & Drink category, with judges' feedback commending "the quality food and drink offering in the region", saying that "Cafeology stood out for its year-on-year growth, investment in innovation and skills, and strong sustainability profile." We were also extremely excited for our apprentice, Jack Coates, who was given a Highly Commended award in the Apprentice of the Year category. Congratulations Jack, we're so proud of everything you've achieved. The ceremony celebrated world-class companies based within South Yorkshire's 'S' postcode and the products being made here and sold across the world. This year's event was of particular significance as it marked The Company of Cutlers' 400th anniversary. It was held at Cutlers' Hall and compered by journalist and presenter Manish Bhasin.

As part of our business evolution and journey towards carbon neutrality, we’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to implement more sustainable practices. Following discussions with universities focused on packaging reduction methods, our founder and MD Bryan came up with a zero waste coffee scheme. Since 2018 we have offered customers the option to accept coffee deliveries in reusable food-grade plastic tubs. This has been a big hit for large volume sites, such as The University of Sheffield, thanks to the ease of process and alignments of values. The scheme has also proved popular for retailers offering customers packaging-free products, such as Unwrapped in Crookes. It’s something we’d love to offer the at-home market from a collection point at our roastery sometime in the future… watch this space! Each easy-to-stack tub is batch coded and sealed, then after customers decant their beans we collect the tubs and sterilise them, ready to be used again. This has saved a total of 7,880 coffee bags since the strategy was implemented. The coffee bags we do use (1kg wholesale and 250g retail) are now made from monoplastic LDPE, which is fully recyclable. To complement the offering, we generate our own box filler packing where required, using our cardboard shredder, which has negated the use of packing peanuts. All cardboard packaging that comes into the roastery is put through the shredder, as well as larger items from our team’s homes. Our coffee is packed into hessian sacks at origin and we send these to K&H Ellis jute recyclers, where they are shredded and repurposed for products such as carpet underlay. The GrainPro bags that line the hessian sacks are also reused for our coffee chaff waste and bin liners for our warehouse and for litter picking sessions in local parks, which our customer service manager Lizzie undertakes. As tech evolves we will continue to research and implement the best options we can find.

Here at Cafeology we have pledged to become carbon neutral by the end of 2025. We hold ourselves accountable through staff and stakeholder engagement and publishing our pledge - which is updated annually - on our website. The threats posed by climate change are deeply concerning to a business like ours that deals in coffee, which only grows in certain regions of the planet due to their specific climate conditions. Ultimately, the farmers at the beginning of the supply chain will suffer the most from climate change as their livelihoods slowly disappear. This is why we work so closely with farmers to support them, raise awareness, pay fair prices so they can reinvest, promote collaboration to solve issues, and provide financial security by committing to buying their coffee each year. Our primary strategy involves reaching carbon neutrality and beyond in order to do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To do this we track our scope one and two emissions (via our bills and fuel usage) and are in the process of calculating our scope three (everything else up and down the supply chain). We will then offset these emissions but, in the meantime, we are implementing projects to reduce these emissions. Examples include electrifying our fleet to utilise our solar power and reducing waste streams to be less impactful. For instance, the circular economies we have implemented breathe new life into the carbon locked within what would be waste products. We are on track for PAS 2060 verification - an internationally recognised standard for carbon neutrality. After this we must assess our situation and plan what will come next - such as the possibility of achieving net zero or net negative emissions. Other plans include investigating roaster exhaust treatment and heat capture in order to reduce emissions and central heating usage; working towards B-corporation accreditation to measure our social and environmental impact; and enhancing our charitable involvement to aid worthy social and environmental projects.

Huge thanks to Sustainable Supply Chain magazine for featuring this fantastic six-page feature about our sustainable business practices, written by our founder and managing director Bryan.