We're often asked why we don't produce our own coffee. The truth is, we know very little about it! We're called teapigs for a reason - and not just because coffeepigs looks like a made up word. Although, it does. Too many ee's. Madness.
Much to our delight, we're very good friends with some chaps who happen to know a great deal about the dark stuff - Paddy & Scott’s. Yup, that's right - teapigs now sell coffee.
who are they?
Paddy & Scott's started off in 2007 - just the two of them, with their black lab Jessie, and a vintage 2-kilo belt driven roaster named "Old Smokey". Their only mission was to create slow roasted, really great coffee - the kind you'd want to drink with friends, as they put it.
By the mid noughties, business was booming. They made a key decision to pull out of supplying supermarkets and go back to basics to ensure they were controlling quality and delivering the absolute best experience – service at the highest quality, directly from Paddy & Scott’s cafés. This means getting your hands on a pack is only possible directly from them or selected outlets – now including us!
what’s special about it?
The folks over at Paddy & Scott’s really do know and care about their beans. They make use of Arabica over Robusta beans – the brighter and more flavourful of the two main coffee types – and chose to slow roast it to bring out the absolute best of it.
Like teapigs, Paddy & Scott’s are dedicated to giving back to their community. In 2016, they set up the Meru Farm project in Kenya, creating the world's collaboration farm. With over 4000 membership plots, the farm and consumers work directly together to sponsor coffee bushes, eliminating the middle-men who often take their cut for the farmer's work. Customers are encouraged to buy single bush, row, or whatever they fancy – you can even book in to help harvest! The farm not only generates jobs, and coffee, but also shared facilities to be used by local communities. For example, extending the farm’s water feed by 6.6km to reach the Ruiga School, and building a new toilet block with washing facilities for them. The school now even has a model working farm on the grounds!
how do I brew it?
Paddy & Scott’s coffee is ground to a medium coarseness – roughly the size of kosher salt. It’s perfect for a cafetière (that’s a french press to you & me) for a clean, bold and smooth brew or, for you coffee whizzes out there, use an aeropress for a lighter, crisp flavour.
