FOOD + DRINK Caffeine Crew cont...
DO GOOD COFFEE
GARAGE COFFEE ROASTERS to strength, now sporting a permanent pitch and coffee pod in Canterbury and a roastery in Whitstable.
However, Lost Sheep is about more than simply roasting beans. The company has combined speciality coffee with beverage innovation, creating award-winning products ranging from coffee beans and pods to iced coffee cans and coffee concentrates, all made using fully traceable, speciality-grade Arabica coffee.
For those who like their coffee with milk, Lost Sheep’ s signature Get to the Hopper blend is a great place to start. Combining beans from Colombia and Brazil, it offers rich, chocolatey notes designed to work beautifully in flat whites and lattes.
ARTISAN ROASTERS
Roasting coffee might look like a simple process, but transforming a small green coffee bean into the aromatic, flavourful drinks we know and love takes precision and, of course, plenty of skill.
The process begins with heat. Green beans are carefully roasted while being kept in constant motion, allowing them to develop an even colour and flavour. While the temperature rises, the beans begin to crack( as a series of distinctive popping sounds known as the‘ first crack’), signalling a crucial stage in the roasting process. From there, the roaster carefully controls the time and temperature to create anything from a light, delicate roast to a rich, darker profile.
Once roasted, the beans are rapidly cooled to stop the cooking process before being given time to rest. Only then are they ready to be ground, brewed and transformed into that all-important cup of coffee.
This art has been refined over the centuries, and Kent is proving that there is far more to coffee than meets the eye- these four premium Kent roasteries are putting their own flavour and style on the county’ s growing coffee scene.
DID YOU KNOW?
Coffee beans aren’ t technically beans at all! They’ re actually seeds found inside the fruit of the coffee plant, often referred to as coffee cherries. They’ re called‘ beans’ simply because of their shape and appearance.
GARAGE COFFEE ROASTERS garageroasted. co. uk
Since 2015, Luke Underdown has been on a mission to bring great coffee to the people of Kent. What began as a humble beginning in his garage has grown into Garage Coffee Roasters, now based in an oast house roastery in Sturry just outside Canterbury, supplying coffee to businesses and cafés across the county.
Behind the business is a team passionate about quality coffee, crafting specialitygrade beans roasted in small 12kg batches to ensure consistency and quality. From Brazilian beans offering notes of dark chocolate and pecan to Ethiopian coffees blending blood orange and treacle, each roast has its own distinctive profile and is carefully sourced, making sure traceability and fair trade are at their heart.
Garage has continued to expand beyond its roastery, opening cafés in Canterbury, Whitstable, Margate and Herne Bay, growing from a small Kent garage into a true county-wide coffee success story.
LOST SHEEP COFFEE lostsheepcoffee. com
For Stuart and Sarah Wilson, Lost Sheep Coffee began with a decision to leave behind the traditional career path. After travelling to Australia, the pair discovered Melbourne’ s distinctive coffee culture and fell in love with its smooth, balanced approach to coffee, particularly when paired with milk.
Bringing that inspiration home, they launched Lost Sheep Coffee from a small street-trading pitch in Canterbury and since then the business has grown from strength
The Lost Sheep flock has now ventured beyond Kent, now being stocked by retailers including Co-op, Ocado and Amazon, and delivered across the UK. It seems Kent isn’ t the only place to have developed a taste for Aussie-style coffee.
WE ARE HERE COFFEE weareherecoffee. com
Based in the seaside town of Margate, We Are Here Coffee is bringing a little fun and a fresh perspective to Kent’ s coffee scene. The independent roastery aims to make buying and brewing speciality coffee simple and accessible, while creating a space where visibility and representation are celebrated within the coffee industry.
Sustainability is also at the heart of the business. Using a roasting method that consumes significantly less energy than traditional drum roasters, We Are Here looks for ways to reuse and recycle throughout the process. Coffee grounds are donated to a local fashion designer, while additional coffee is donated to local charities and communities. Even the packaging is recyclable, reflecting the roastery’ s holistic approach to sustainability.
The coffee itself is deliberately uncomplicated. There are four signature roasts: This One, designed for espresso; That One, suited to filter coffee and cafetière; The Other One, made for cold brew; and Decaf, which can be used across brewing methods. No complicated coffee jargon, just good coffee made simple.
DO GOOD COFFEE dogoodcoffee. uk
Set in the Kent countryside, Do Good Coffee began with master roaster Philip experimenting with coffee as a hobby, roasting beans for guests staying at his campsite. The idea was simple: start each day with the best cup of coffee possible.
That hobby soon developed into something much bigger, with Philip establishing a
124 • www. insidekent. co. uk