Coffee drinking is not an insular experience—far from it. It brings people together. In any coffee shop in the land, you will find people, strangers, chatting over a cup of coffee.
The coffee chains have brought a lot of different products to the market to tempt both the pallet and the wallet. They have bought us the Latte, flavoured or not, and the infamous flat white.
Coffee has also created personalities from its Baristas and Roasters. One notable is James Hoffman, who became famous after winning the 2007 World Barista Championship. Now an entrepreneur and business consultant of some standing, his YouTube channel has 2.07 million subscribers. He founded Square Mile Roasters in 2008.
Here in East Devon, we have several independent roasters. The one that I mainly use is RoastWorks, which is down the road from me in Willand. I take the opportunity to pick up my order; the aroma is lovely when you open the door.
Likewise, in Exeter, there are Exe Roasters. They have a couple of coffee shops in the city, but the best for me is just off Fore Street. This is where they roast the beans. You can sit and watch the roasting process whilst sipping on a cup of their finest. It is fascinating to witness the roasting process. Very technology-based. Also in East Devon is Buzz Coffee. Based in Sidmouth, I have tried a couple of their roasts. Lovely coffee and funky bright packaging
But to get back to the social side of coffee, three of us are coffee geeks in the office where I work. We share our different coffees, which attract the attention of others who have since started their coffee journeys.
I have an Aeropress and grind my beans, much to the ire of one person in the office. I may have become a bit of a coffee personality in the kitchen. This weekend, I made one of my coffee buddies' day by leaving him a particularly nice Ethiopian Guji bean roast for his French Press as he works this weekend.
The other evening, I was checking my social media accounts, and one suggested some 'friends' with whom I may like to connect. You know how it works, a long list of friends of friends, friends, the vast majority I have no idea who they are. Except this time, there was someone that I did know. I checked to see if this was a genuine account, which I always do, and to my surprise, he was a coffee roaster. I ordered a couple of different beans from his site and received a message from him. He and his wife have set the coffee business as a retirement proposition. We both served in Portsmouth Band in the 80s, and I'm happy to be able to support them in their new venture. The company? Darwin Coffee. I will post a link with the others at the end of this piece.
This week has been a productive writing week. For the first part of the week, I was at home and could spend a few hours in my new writing den. I have primarily been working on the rewrite/redraft of 'Beastin Dartmoor. It is taking a bit longer than I had imagined. I have rewritten a few scenes in the first three chapters so far. I like the deadline that I set myself for writing this blog and my Substack for Monday mornings. I can be found on a Zoom writing hour with William's Patreon Group on Sunday afternoons, which is great fun. William is a Tea lover and loves nothing better than being busy writing with Tea and a couple of biscuits and if it's a more tangible problem, it will be tea with three biscuits. His three biscuit guides on YouTube are legendary.
Last Sunday, I attempted to write the second half of a 3000-word short story for an anthology to be published later in the year. I got the idea for the story from an exercise at another writing workshop I attended. For the first 1500 words, I was fortunate to be critiqued and edited by Jenny, who runs the workshops. From the short pieces that I read in the workshop, this could be my third novel, which I laughed at, to be honest. However, when the writing hour ended, I could confirm that this story would exceed 3000 words. 2025 is looking to be an exciting year, and I will have to re-think the short story now.
Have a great week, everybody.
Links:
https://execoffeeroasters.co.uk/
https://www.buzzcoffee.co.uk/
https://www.slowfood.org.uk/supporters/darwin-coffee
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