Lost Barn Coffee Roasters’ Bloomsbury Blend was a coffee that was always going to be a strong contender for the 2020 Great Taste Awards. The easydrinking espresso had been given two coveted stars the previous year, but the coffee has come of age in the 12 months that have elapsed since.
“We knew we had something special when we were awarded two stars, but at that point we were still a relatively young business. We had to build on that with more experience,” says Jo McKerchar, who founded the Cheshire micro-roastery with her husband Blair, a chef, and their business partner Martyn Moloney. This year, the company’s coffee has been awarded three stars and the Great Taste Golden Fork for the north of England.
“We’ve refined the blend in terms of the proportion of beans. It’s based on a new crop of mundo novo beans from a family farm in Brazil. Every year, the flavour of the bean is improving,” says Jo.
Not many coffee brands can claim to have a direct line to the farm that supplies their beans, but this is the way Lost Barn Coffee operates - and the company pays a price agreed with the grower rather than set by the commodities market.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN