Wake up and smell our coffee!

The café is now serving Fairtrade Espresso Blend Coffee by Grumpy Mule, a 100% Arabica blend from smallholder farmers growing sustainable coffee in Central America, South America and Indonesia. The coffee is slow roasted to fully develop the sweetness and fragrant aromas that are coaxed from the beans. This is a highly aromatic, full bodied and flavoursome coffee that combines extremely well in milk based drinks. The coffee is grown on smallholder farms that are affiliated to Fairtrade certified co-operatives, guaranteeing a fair price for the farmers and additional premiums.

You will also find Grumpy Mule coffee on the shop’s shelves. All varieties are roasted in batches to suit their individual characteristics. The company has taken inspiration from the world of wine to ensure that customers can discover the distinctive character and provenance of each coffee by providing background about the place it was grown and the people who produced it. Most of these coffees aren’t just blends or characterless single origin coffees, but coffees from identifiable farms, estates and co-operatives of smallholder farmers. Owner Ian Balmforth says: “Here at Grumpy Mule, we roast and pack our own coffee which is vital to quality, consistency and for developing relationships with coffee growers. Our new roastery replaced our traditional coffee mills in 2000 and we’ve gradually introduced newer, more hi-tech roasting and packing equipment which enables us to constantly improve our range of coffees. In contrast to the traditional methods of blending various coffees, Grumpy Mule focuses upon offering and promoting unique single origin coffees and spellbinding micro-lots. Our passion for flavour and aroma is equalled only by our determination to find coffees that are produced with care and respect for the environment and the people who grow them.”