Coffee Blog
Press release 25/06/2015
A Trowbridge businessman with a passion for coffee has said goodbye to the corporate world to start his own coffee roasting business.
Adrian Smith, from Hilperton, spent more than 20 years in the licensed retail trade and gave up a senior management role for a national pub chain to share his love of coffee.
After roasting beans at home, exploring the roasting process and different brew methods which he tried out on friends and family, Adrian says the feedback he received gave him the confidence to turn his passion into a livelihood.
He opened the Bath Coffee Company café in Kingsmead Square, Bath just over a year ago and has now taken a unit in Edington Station Yard, near Westbury from where he runs Square Root Roastery with his wife Simone.
Adrian said: “There are not many of us who don’t enjoy a cup of coffee, it starts our day and is great to share with friends. We’ve always been avid coffee drinkers but until we started this journey, we didn’t appreciate just what is involved in the world beyond the cup. We see the artisan coffee movement as akin to craft beer and we want to share aromas and flavours from around the world with as many people as possible.
“When we set up the café, Carter Jonas found the premises for us in Bath and they were able to find the ideal spot in Edington for the roastery. It means I can be close to home and the whole family can be involved.”
Adrian has installed a drum roaster, which he affectionately calls Laura, to roast his ethically sourced beans, and although the business is strictly a family affair at present, he hopes to take on staff in the future.
Tom Parker, of Carter Jonas in Bath said: “The aroma of freshly ground coffee coming from a rural industrial development is certainly welcome by other tenants in the complex. Anyone can visit the roastery, with advance notice, where they can buy coffee from countries including Tanzania, Columbia and Sumatra.”
Edington Station Yard was established more than 20 years ago with the aim of supporting rural industrial development.
11/12/2015 Bath Chronicle. Picture courtesy of Paul Gillis.
A Bath coffee lover is on a mission to make his product so much more than just a "caffeine hit".
Adrian Smith, 38, runs The Bath Coffee Company in Kingsmead Square, thought to be the only coffee shop in Bath which uses only beans it has roasted.
The father-of-three has his own roasting facility in Eddington near Westbury, where he roasts beans from as far afield as Brazil, Columbia, Sumatra, Java, India and Tanzania.
He gave up a six figure salary as an area manager for Punch Taverns, in charge of around 60 pubs, to follow his passion for coffee.
Adrian told the Bath Chronicle: "I'm fed up of people thinking of coffee as this bitter caffeine hit that wakes them up in the morning.
"Like wine or craft beer there is so much more out there. People are still accepting bad coffee in this country but the industry is changing and I want to be part of that and share what I've created."
Adrian set up the shop in March 2014 but only took over the day-to-day running of it in June this year.
He first began roasting his own beans at home around six years ago and later completed some courses at the London School of Coffee to learn more about the science of his favourite drink.
Adrian, who lives in Hilperton, only uses Arabica beans rather than Robusta, which is favoured by many other shops and chains.
He said: "Robusta has lots of caffeine but it has a bitter, over-roasted kind of burned taste.
"Our coffee is roasted fresher than anybody else's and I can tell you everything about it.
"I lot of people come here because they get a little bit of knowledge without the snootiness that's associated with other places.
"I love my coffee and I have made it my mission to understand it
Read more: http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bath-coffee-shop-offers-lot-just-caffeine-hit/story-28346789-detail/story.html#ixzz40YzVMC8u
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