meet the producer.
PHOTOGRAPHS: RICHARD FAULKS
The coffee beans roasted by Dark Woods come from exotic locations such as Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Brazil, but the company’s headquarters couldn’t be more British. Headquartered in an old textile mill beside a canal and the River Colne, Dark Woods roasts its beans surrounded by the moorland, dry-stone walls and the ancient woods of the Pennines.
“Working in a dramatic, windswept valley helps inspire the mood and flavours of our coffees,” says roaster Damian Blackburn, who co-founded the business in 2013 with two coffee-industry friends, Paul Meikle-Janney and Ian Agnew. “You need to be in the zone when you’re roasting to be able to hear, see and smell the beans, so it’s good to work in a peaceful space.”