Grounded
We meet Grant from Coldblow Coffee and the Nutmeg Deli & Coffee Shop.
"I loved it being out and about doing physical work. I’m a hands-on person, and I had been craving a craft of some description for a long time. So I played with big toys and climbed trees daily; it was great."
Grant Robinson Coldblow Coffee Roasters
What is your background, and what set you on the path to doing what you do?
Grant. I’m originally from London, born in Peckham. I lived all over South London until I was in my mid-twenties when I moved out to Kent. At school, I did my GCSEs and A levels, then left with no idea what I wanted to do. Looking back, I grew up appreciating the outdoors. If you had asked me in my early teens what my dream job would be, I would have said a Countryside Ranger or Forestry.
After college, I decided to go travelling with three friends. We planned a trip around Europe in some old campervans; I had a lovely old ’66 split-screen camper. We travelled around Europe for six months; I planned to return, save some money and go again.
While in Prague, I overheard a guy in a bar with a South London accent. I spoke with him, and we realised we knew each other when we were younger. He asked what I’d been up to, so I told him about our trip, and he asked if I needed a job when I returned. I said I needed to start earning money, so he gave me his business card and told me to ring him when I returned. A few months later, I called him back in London. He worked at the London Futures and Options Exchange on Cannon Street for a big American bank. It was entirely out of my comfort zone.
I went there for an interview, got offered a job as a runner and started the next day. I wanted to do the job for six months, make a little money and go to Australia. Ultimately, I worked there for years, having the time of my life until I eventually felt like ‘a fish out of water’.
I came full circle back to the idea of Countryside Management. I had a mortgage by now, so I couldn’t return to uni. Instead, I found a course in Arboriculture that a friend had recommended; in Ten weeks, you could become a qualified Tree Surgeon with the practical skills and qualifications. I signed up, left the city on a Friday and started the course on a Monday. Ten weeks later, I was qualified and got a job with a big firm in London. I was there for around three years, working with a guy called Martin, an amazing climber and a true grafter. We both dreamed of partnering up, we took the plunge and starting our own company.
So how did you move from climbing trees to roasting coffee?
Grant. Around ten years into running that business, my wife (at the time), started a coffee shop, and I started researching coffee. I went down a Rabbit Hole with the whole coffee scene. In 2004, we took a trip to New Zealand when my kids were young. That was my Eureka Moment in the coffee world. I had a flat white in a service station in New Zealand, and it was the best coffee I’d ever had up to that point. I thought this couldn’t be right; I was in a service station!
When I worked in the city, my sister worked in Soho in the mid-nighties. I remember going over to meet her, wandering through Covent Garden and having my first Pour-Over Coffee at Monmouth. At that time, the Specialist Coffee Scene wasn’t really around; Monmouth was one of the first. This gave me an idea of what coffee could be before the major coffee chains and speciality scene arrived in London.
But New Zealand kickstarted the idea of getting into the coffee industry. When we returned from our trip, my ex-wife set up a coffee shop in Hythe. At the same time, I set up a mobile coffee van in a little Piaggio three-wheeler and used to trade down on Hythe Beach. I became obsessed with it and scaled down my tree surgery work to do this part-time. Three years later, we took on another coffee shop in Tenterden together. Two years after that, we separated. She kept the shop in Hythe, and I kept the shop in Tenterden, which I’ve had for 12 years.
"My working week was two or three days climbing trees and the rest serving coffee. I’d wake up some mornings and think which one I am doing today."
Climbing trees for 20 years is hard going. You don’t last that much longer than that. I was super fit back then; it feels like a long time ago. I was conscious of my body wearing out. I had a climber working for me already, but if I wasn’t out doing the day-to-day, it wasn’t doing it for me, and I wanted to avoid ending up sitting in the office.
By then, I knew coffee was where I wanted to go in business. So, I first considered another shop. I needed another way of earning extra income from the coffee world. I’d already started roasting coffee at home, just playing with a little home roaster I picked up second-hand. I was writing copious notes and getting green coffee samples sent out from all over the place.
Before I started roasting, I used Monmouth Coffee in London as my supplier. They’re a company I admire; they’ve been around since the seventies and have a lovely brand. I’d been up to their Roastery a few times for Barista Training. Whilst there, I talked to one of the Roasters and watched the production roasting on a lovely old Italian machine. It piqued my interest; that was probably the first time I thought this was a real potential direction for me. So then I started researching, reading books and kept roasting at home.
I thought this might be the add-on to the shop that would enable me to move away from tree work and get a hundred per cent into the coffee industry. It’s still hands-on and craft-based. Plus, it involves machinery I can play with, take apart, clean and tinker with.
How did you go about turning that interest and enthusiasm into a business?
Grant. A great friend of mine, Timmy, was making beautiful steel frame push bikes in his workshop. I used to cycle up there, use his espresso machine and hang out with him. I told him I was thinking about getting into roasting coffee. He loved the idea and asked where I was thinking of doing it. He then offered me space in the corner of his workshop. It’s an old industrial unit on a beautiful farm in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest.
Timmy gave me a real shove to get going. I came up with a name, Coldblow, from the location; we’re on Coldblow Lane. Unbeknownst to me, he contacted a graphic designer he knew and paid for some initial designs to be done. He showed me the graphics and said this is real now; you are doing it. Timmy provided me with the space and the confidence to start.
I found a bit of funding. A friend, Martin, put some money into Coldblow to help me start up and get me through the transition of jobs. I sold my tree surgery kit, Land Rover and chipper; that part-funded my new roaster. That was nice; it drew a line under one chapter and financed the next.
Five years ago, I pushed the button to order the roaster from a company called Giesen in Holland. We installed it in the corner of the workshop. I had my first pallet of beans arrive, and it started from there. Then came the realisation of how complicated the process is; I wasn’t naive to it, but it’s just all-encompassing, a steep learning curve.
I’d hooked up with another friend, Darren Pilcher, who has Old Hope Archive. He’s a graphic designer and printmaker. I’d told him about the Coldblow graphic, and we spoke about the low-fi idea that I was just roasting coffee beans in the corner of a workshop. I wanted to start with simple craft bags and rubber stamp printing to keep it humble. I didn’t want to portray that we were a big brand and team by going all out on branding and a slick website. It was just me and the roaster. In Darren’s tiny workshop, we played around with hand stamping and letter pressing the labels. Hundreds of labels lined up had to be printed twice and left to dry. It took a lot of effort, but aesthetically it felt right.
So how did you introduce your coffee to businesses and customers?
Grant. When I started roasting, I knew my first customer would be myself in my shop, The Nutmeg Deli; it’s a little shop but sells a good volume of coffee. There was a real anticipation that I knew I had to switch over at some point. We had a real following with Monmouth, and my customers loved it. I’d been working with the guys from whom I bought my first batch of beans from Falcon Speciality in Lewes. They devised a blend with me that went well with my customer’s tastes. I wanted it to be a little brighter than Monmouth’s blend but still a crowd-pleaser.
I did lots of testing and tasting; then one day decided to switch it out; I didn’t tell anyone and waited to see what happened. Some people noticed the coffee had changed slightly, but overwhelmingly I got excellent comments. It brought that extra element to being a Barista; there is a lot of pride in making a nice cup of coffee and watching someone enjoy it. Then the whole layer on top of that, knowing you’ve roasted it too.
The current blend is based on the original, but it’s been tweaked and tweaked. It’s called Frameworks Blend as a nudge to Timmy and his Frame building business. It’s a blend that’s easy to work with, both as an espresso and with milk. If elements of the blend are out of season, we tweak it slightly but maintain the flavour profile. Other coffees in our range are all single origins, from speciality importers, sourced from all over the tropics. We also have a great organic decaf. Currently, we are developing a second blend.
We work with a handful of amazing speciality green bean importers and have coffees from many origins at any one time. We buy relatively small quantities, apart from the blend components, which are allocated in more significant amounts to keep our supply consistent throughout the year. However, some beans are super seasonal, so planning ahead is essential.
"I'm super lucky to be doing something that I enjoy. If, for any reason, I couldn’t run this business any longer, I’d be happy to go and work for another roaster just to be doing this job."
In the shop, we sell lots of retail bags; it’s interesting watching people come in and purchase one for the first time. We might suggest they try an easy-drinking coffee like Brazil or Colombia. After that, you see their journey as they get more adventurous with different origins and ways of brewing. It’s enjoyable to watch because that’s what’s happened to me.
Timmy’s friend Kristian was setting up a coffee stall at the time in The Goods Shed, Canterbury, and needed a coffee supplier. We sent some samples, and he loved them. Kristian became my first customer, and he still uses it today and has become a good friend. He’s a real champion for our brand. In the first couple of years, I wanted it to find its way rather than going out and approaching every nearby coffee shop with samples. Our customers have largely found us, which is great.
I enjoy building relationships with all the businesses using our coffee across Kent and Sussex. We often swing by, dropping off coffee by hand to check in and say ‘Hi’, collecting recyclable packaging and switching out containers.
For the first two years of Coldblow, I was doing everything myself. Roasting, packaging, delivering, emails and bills; it was too much, and I couldn’t have done it much longer. My partner Jemma was a Science Teacher at a secondary school at the time. She decided to go part-time at school and work for Coldblow twice a week. She’s very organised and tech-savvy. I had lots to do, and online sales were picking up. So she dropped another day at school and was now at Coldblow three days a week.
After lockdown, we took the plunge and re-evaluated everything. Every coffee shop had closed overnight, and 99% of my business was wholesale. We were worried, but then our online sales went through the roof; we were both in the roastery three or four days a week through lockdown, bagging up coffee and shipping it out. Customers wanted to treat themselves while they were locked indoors.
Jemma had been a Barista beforehand and had a good knowledge of coffee. Plus, before she joined me at Coldblow, she heard things about the business from me at home. It’s great working together, and she’s driven the business forward much quicker than I ever would have.
So every good Roaster gets to a stage when they’ll need to scale up; we got there this year. We traded our 6-kilo roaster for a 15-kilo from the same manufacturer in Holland. It is a game changer that has upped our capacity and freed up time for us to focus on other things.
In the pipeline, we are venturing into the Guest Coffee Scene, much like craft beers in a pub or taproom. Speciality coffee shops might have a coffee they use constantly and then run a guest coffee alongside. We’ve started connecting with a few shops in London and working with some amazing vineyards, restaurants and pubs. It is a great industry to be part of.
"Coffee culture and coffee shops, they’re like the new pubs. The third space many visit as part of their daily routine. It wasn’t like that 15 years ago."
Grant Robinson
Coldblow Coffee Roasters
coldblowcoffee.co.uk
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Nutmeg Deli & Coffee Shop
Sayers Lane, Tenterden TN30 6BW
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