We are pleased to publish our first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report - a milestone update on Cafeology’s environmental, social and corporate governance data. Our directors, sustainability manager and the wider team have worked tirelessly to research and implement these practices in order to strive for carbon neutrality by the end of 2025 and provide a transparent report for stakeholders. Our ESG report covers a wide range of topics including: embedded environmental and social practices; waste and carbon monitoring; team and governance structure; future plans and how our operations align with the 17 UN sustainable development goals. We will publish an updated ESG report annually, in order to keep interested parties up-to-date with our progress towards becoming a more sustainable business. Please follow this link to read the report.

Today, we are celebrating the wonderful Denise’s 12th anniversary of working for Cafeology. Denise joined us on the 4th May 2010 as an admin assistant. She recalls “coming across the job on the My Sheffield Jobs website on the final date to apply."  Denise is the proud owner of two horses and was busy at the stables mucking out when she came across the advert on her phone. Scared of missing the deadline, she picked up the phone and called Cafeology with the hope of getting an interview.  Toni, our Finance Director, answered the phone and after a quick chat invited Denise for an interview at our office, which was then based in Meersbrook Enterprise Centre.   The company was much smaller then and we only had seven employees - including Molly, the white standard poodle - which was perfect for Denise, being a dog lover herself. As you can probably guess, Denise got the job - and the rest is history! Throughout her 12 years with us, Denise has seen the business grow and expand resulting in our ability to roast our own coffee locally. She says: “Over the years I have seen many changes but the most rewarding is watching  'Teamology' continue to grow." Denise is one of our customer service champions manning the phones and handling any sales queries you may have. We’re incredibly proud to be ranked 5/5 on Trustpilot with our customer service being pivotal to this. Denise is often the first person new customers speak to when they call us and we couldn’t think of anyone better to own this role. A fond memory of Denise occurred a few years ago, when it came to light at a Christmas party that Bryan, our managing director, does not like wearing Christmas jumpers and would refuse to wear one. Denise got wind of this and “nipped home to grab a spare one” for Bryan… who, by the end of the evening, was pictured in said jumper, smiling (refer to photos). When a challenge is proposed to Denise, she will always find a way to overcome it. At Cafeology, our people are the thing that matters most to us. Denise is a pivotal cog in Teamology and we wouldn’t be half as good without her. We’re very grateful for the role she’s done over the past 12 years. We think you’re fab - here’s to another 12!

I had the opportunity to volunteer at Wheatbridge Medical Centre to assist with a two day vaccination program designated for the over 80s. It was at very short notice as were the plans for the Health Centre to be used due to the last minute confirmation of availability of the vaccine. I have very little experience of dealing with older people in any sort of medical setting so was a little nervous at putting my name forward. However when my mate Terry, who had been tasked with raising a volunteer team explained that if he couldn’t confirm the existence of a team in the next couple of hours, the two days of vaccinations would be cancelled, I could only say: “Yes”! If I said no then around 1,500 vulnerable local people would miss out on the opportunity to get their first dose of the vaccine. I rang my employer, Cafeology, to check if I could be spared the following day. As soon as they found out why, they too said “yes”! When I arrived at Wheatbridge the following morning, I recognised most of my fellow volunteers! As Terry is landlord at my local pub, The Sir William in Grindleford, he had recruited most of the regulars from the pub quiz as volunteers! As we haven’t seen each other as a group for months, it was great to catch up. Like a night at the pub, only without the beer. Well, you can’t have everything! A damn good chance to have a laugh together, something that we just can’t do under current socialising restrictions. A very quick briefing for my role as sole outdoor queue marshal, was followed by an explanation that the whole clinic was also open, including surgery, pharmacy, dentist and sexual health clinic. This meant that the designated area for queuing would include one huge vaccination queue of over 80s, criss-crossed by two other queues and a fourth queue heading in the opposite direction towards the sexual health clinic. Apparently my task was to make sure the vaccine queue was orderly and didn’t block the other facilities. I also had to ensure that none of the over 80s were lost to the surgery or pharmacy - bad enough, dentist - bad, or probably worst case scenario - sexual health clinic. It is true to say that some of the patients were confused, some were anxious and others were scared. It was good to chat to them, explain where they were going to go during the visit and reassure them that the other volunteers and professionals were going to guide them through the building and procedures. They didn’t need to worry, their only input required was to turn up at vaguely the right time and give their name. Everything else would then be done for them. As the idea was to minimise time in the building, the queuing was mainly outside under the overhanging roof. That overhang was great as it snowed for most of the second day. We arranged wheelchairs for those that could not queue on their feet for long and shelter indoors after the injection for the less able, running around the car park to match patients to their arriving taxi. The chats with the patients in the queue were lovely. Their anticipation and excitement was infectious! Amazing to see many of them were so immaculately dressed for this big occasion! People told how they hadn’t left the house since March or April last year. Others told of the isolation or how they had not seen their grandchild since they were tiny and now they were walking and talking. It was very touching. All of them were looking forward to a better time and saw this vaccination as the very start of a process that would lead to an end of their isolation. There were only a few attempted queue jumpers, some I’m sure by accident, others, I’m fairly sure deliberately “not noticing” a line of 100 other, more patient people in their 80s. However, the vast majority of people in the queue were absolutely lovely. It was like a party atmosphere. A Big Day Out! I spent most of the time laughing along with them, their jokes, stories and banter was great. It was also refreshing to be referred to as a “young man” so many times. That’s not happened for a while!  Their stoicism, warmth, humour and consideration for each other was an example to us all. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! It felt very worthwhile. It was very rewarding and great fun. If you are given the chance or can bring about the opportunity to do something similar, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you say “Yes!” and just go with it!  John Bowman Technical Manager

Well... where has the last few weeks gone?  In some respects it appears to have flown. However, thinking of life pre-lockdown this feels a distant memory as so much has changed and so dramatically. On a positive progress note, my mushrooms has been a fungal revelation! Mushrooms aplenty, which have been added to stir fries, omelettes and homemade pizzas, alongside the mandatory weekend bacon sandwich. It has to be said that I have enjoyed my morning routine of peering inside the box to count the progress a small but very therapeutic process. Time has evaporated by constant development of our online retail shop working on new coffee lines alongside making sure that we display the wide range of both ingredients and ancillaries that we hold at our coffee roastery near Meadowhall. We have been delighted and quite overwhelmed with the feedback we have received as always we go above and beyond to bring the freshly roasted coffee to our customer homes, sometimes within just a couple of hours from orders and as far afield as Miami, Australia and regular deliveries to Ireland. Our time has also been spent on obtaining important customer feedback on our store and ensuring that we deliver the most perfect cup of fresh coffee to you importantly in the way that you want and creating new products. Some exciting news will follow but for now just watch this space! I have continued to occupy my mind by cooking, gardening and grooming our beautiful standard poodle Poppy. At this time of year I always turn my mind to buying plants for my hanging and hay baskets as I love to see the plants bloom and cascade as the summer months move on. Sadly this year I was unable to visit the garden centre with my Mum to ask her opinion and spend quality time always accompanied with a coffee stop for our usual chat.  This time however is all about finding a way and compromise so I was delighted to receive a delivery from New Leaf Garden Centre as they brilliantly fulfilled my brief of a mixed array of bedding plants which I was able to display and share with my Mum over a conference call. My annual ritual includes the use of coffee sacks as the hanging and hay basket liners as they make the perfect base, retain moisture and also look fantastic each providing a unique look! The other coffee related accompaniment is the addition of coffee chaff to the compost. Coffee chaff is a nitrogen rich parchment from roasted coffee which is collected and bagged from our coffee roasters we store this and make it available for gardeners as part of our environmental policy. Digging this coffee chaff matter in the compost helps not only with adding nutrients but also moisture retention as it acts a little like a sponge helping keeping the plants hydrated. In a short time I have managed to make an utter mess in the back garden with pots, compost and plants everywhere however once complete I feel rather satisfied with myself and ensure that I am rewarded with today's coffee - a delicious Costa Rican Micro lot from our friend Roberto. I chose to make this with the Chemex as having time at home does not mean that you are unable to replicate a coffee shop experience and this is possible without going to great expense with a coffee machine. The process of warming the Chemex jug first by wetting the filter paper following by adding 30g of Cafeology Costa Rican coffee and then slow pouring at first 50g of water followed by a slow pour of a further 450g of water over five minutes results in a delicious smooth creamy and utterly satisfying cup!    Sit back, relax and put your feet up. Take a sip and admire your handy work. Importantly don’t forget to listen to the birds as I am hoping that they are telling us that we are on the right side and that things will return to a new and maybe better normal soon! Toni Unkles  Finance Director

It's been a funny six weeks for me at work and at home. My wife and I are were expecting our first baby at the end of March, just as the Corona Virus was starting to take hold of the UK. The anticipation of a newborn was somewhat stressful and the health concerns that came with Corona alongside the uncertainty of work created a somewhat difficult few weeks. I started to work from home and self isolate towards the end of March. It's not the easiest task to roast coffee from home (a lack of coffee roasters is the main obstacle!), but it did give me the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork and look towards the future. Lockdown in general is a funny time, but it was actually a bonus to be able to spend a little more time at home to prepare for my little one's arrival. Our due date came and went and no sign of baby Hampshire and on the first of April the decision was made I would be put onto furlough. This was tough as I love my job and enjoy structure, but with the baby due any time it made complete sense for me take this option. So, my lovely wife is now overdue, I'm not currently at work, we are self isolating and not allowed to venture out - the house soon became quite oppressive. Now don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people have it a lot worse than I do but let me tell you, that first week was tricky :) The days passed and still no baby, then finally on the 8th April our lives changed forever. Along came Seth Robert Hampshire, a beautiful baby boy. As soon as I saw him my heart melted and I knew things would never be the same again. It wasn't the smoothest of journeys for baby Seth and he had to spend some time in the high dependency unit at Jessops, as well as extra nights on the ward. This was obviously hard in its own right but due the the threat of Corona, I wasn't allowed onto the maternity ward so there were lots of trips from home to the hospital and back again. All is well that ends well and after some time in hospital, Seth came home.  \ I'd like to take this opportunity to give my heartfelt thanks to all the staff at the Hallamshire Hospital Jessop Wing. All the team at the Jessops were absolutely fantastic and could not have done more for Seth, my wife and me. The NHS is an exceptional service that everyone of us should be proud and delighted to have available. I hope if nothing else positive comes from this it will make people appreciate what an amazing service ALL the NHS provides. As head of coffee, I think you will agree, it was important to make sure I continued to quality control all the coffee we produce. Armed with an Aeropress, Chemex, Bean to Cup machine and a classic cafetiere I continue to brew and taste all our coffees at home. There was something really special about brewing up a beautiful single origin Ethiopian at 2am after the 100th nappy change of the day 😂. I certainly think I'm in the right industry for my current sleep situation! Obviously I really love and I'm extremely proud of all the coffees we produce. The Cooling Towers through the Chemex and cafetiere of the Winter Coat have really been keeping me going during the last month. Whilst being on furlough and becoming a new dad, one of the hardest things I have had to endure is the isolation that the Covid-19 outbreak has brought. None of our parents, siblings or friends have been allowed to come round and have a little cuddle with Seth! It's been somewhat heartbreaking Face Timing and looking at Grandma and Grandad through the window and them not been able to hold our little bundle of joy. It is what it is, but it has been a challenge I wasn't expecting to face three months ago. Having said this, the amount of gifts, cards and messages of support we have received from friends and family has been overwhelming and to anyone reading this that has contributed (you know who you are), I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Since the 8th of April, my world has been nappies, cuddles and coffee! It's had its challenges but I couldn't be happier with how my life has changed. I've had regular updates and messages of support from the team at Cafeology and I really couldn't be happier how the skeleton crew at the roastery have preformed in the last month. Our change to focus on retail has brought challenges, but the boys and girls have delivered time and time again. I actually think they may prefer me not being in work 😁. I'm due to come back to work on May 4th, which I'm excited but also apprehensive about. I can't wait to get back on the roasters and throw myself into work, but with the current situation it means my wife is flying solo at home with Seth. This presents many issues and concerns, but my amazing wife will not only survive in my absence, she will thrive. As I return, Tom, who has been running the warehouse will be placed on furlough as his other half is also expecting. There must be something in the Cafeology coffee :) My six-and-a-half years at Cafeology has been an adventure from start to finish; we have adapted to new markets, taken and won new challenges and it has been an absolute pleasure to be involved in. I'm sure that we will come out of the situation stronger and better equipped to tackle whatever comes next. Becoming a dad has only inspired me to progress further in the industry I love. I'm excited to start working on our next new blend and to take Roastology to the next level. I'd like to finish this post with a massive thank you to all the front line workers during this pandemic. What an amazing effort by them all to keep the country working! Thank you x Steve Hampshire Head of Coffee

We are celebrating five years since we were awarded a prestigious   Guardian Sustainable Business   award in recognition for our Bird Friendly shade-grown coffee.   It was launched in 2014 to the UK market and is an 100% arabica coffee that is grown under conditions set out and certified by the Smithsonian Institution's Migratory Bird Centre in Washington. The Bird Friendly® program aims to protect the most quality habitat from the threat of deforestation under the Bird Friendly seal. The Bird Friendly seal really is the gold standard in eco-friendly, organic farming. Not only is the coffee one of the most environmentally friendly coffees in the world, but it also tastes amazing too. Being grown strictly in the shade allows the coffee to mature slower giving it a rounded, balanced flavour with an amazing clean cup profile. By purchasing this coffee, you are protecting the planet, paying a fair price to producers, whilst enjoying stunning single estate, organically grown coffee, freshly roasted here in the United Kingdom. Bryan, our founded and managing director, said: "It was an momentous occasion to be recognised with such a prestigious award following the hard work we had done in raising the profile of Bird Friendly coffee here in the UK.  "Our Bird Friendly certified organic coffee grows under biodiverse shade that provides critical habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife, isolates carbon and helps fight climate change.     "The awards evening at The Crystal in London’s Docklands was certainly one of the highlights of my career, capped off by being joined by Dr Robert Rice from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington DC who happened to be visiting during a rare vacation to the UK."

I first met Roberto Mata during 2008 on my first trip to Costa Rica. His farm is located in the stunning Dota Valley at an elevation of 1550 meters above sea level.   Roberto has been in coffee all his life, learning from his father who was a pioneer of coffee in the Tarrazu region, launching techniques and higher productivity varietals focusing on Caturra, Borbon and Catuai. The farm, which Roberto and his wife Doris acquired, is 25 hectares in total across the stunning and famous Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. This region is one of the most highly regarded coffee growing areas worldwide. In many people's opinion, Costa Rican Coffee from Tarrazu is one of the world's greatest coffees with its light, clean flavour and wonderful fragrance. The fragrance however doesn’t finish in the cup. The attached pictures were taken on Wednesday 22 April showing the amazing coffee flowers. I called Roberto on a WhatsApp video call and saw the amazing sight first hand. I have never been lucky enough to see coffee in flower first hand, but as with many of us working from home currently, the Cherry Blossom we have outside the house is a sight to behold – just not the same fragrance unfortunately. The flowering only lasts a couple of days a year and normally starts 10-11 days after the first rainfall of the season – Roberto told me he intends to sleep outside tonight (23 April) to enjoy the magnificent scent in the air and has promised to send us some petals to make some tea with! Who would have though making a cup of tea from dried coffee flowers, now there’s a treat we can look forward to! Bryan Unkles  Founder and Managing Director

Well it's amazing how you can have an eventful few days even when confined to the four walls of your house, but I suppose expectations do change! I have continued to embrace my love of cooking and a new found pleasure in creating meals like I’m in the set of ready steady cook but with no waste bin. I always have hated any type of food waste but I can honestly say that I have taken this to a whole new level. To date I have only sacrificed a wobbly carrot and mouldy parsnip so feeling rather chuffed with my frugality. This resulted in a quiche which used a couple of the weekends rashers of bacon, a leek, some shallots that had been living in the vegetable drawer in the fridge for far too long and some delicious black bomber from Silver Hill Larder close to home at Parkhead in Sheffield. My issue is that I need to keep moving in order to burn off these baking calories, however I appear to have literally stumbled across another problem here, well launched might be a more appropriate adjective. Last Thursday evening prior to the weekly NHS clap we decided to take Poppy (our Standard Poodle) on her walk and turning into the jitty, snicket or genal dependent upon your locality I managed to kick a protruding stone and propel myself like a downhill skier minus the snow and with the addition of gravel towards the earth at a great rate of knots. I would like to point out that not a drop of alcohol had passed my lips but maybe if it had I would have bounced a little! My bruised ribs and gravelled extremities have put paid albeit temporarily I hope to my exercise plans as feeling rather sore. Anyway, sitting on the settee with a good cup of Teaology Tea and half a chocolate rabbits ear does make it all a little easier. The day after my fall I decided that rather than sit at my laptop I would bake a cake! So I decided on a Cafeology Bird Friendly Peruvian Coffee and Walnut cake. The distraction from my aching ribs was very welcome and it’s a long time since I have spent a morning making so much mess and feeling so absorbed in a new and challenging subject matter. Baking is a science and to be honest my style is rather more creative when it comes to home cooking. However, I am a qualified SCA coffee roaster so I adopted my professional hat and became focused and ensured that rather than 'a dash of this and a slurp of that', I accurately and diligently weighed out all. My first problem arose from the walnuts as required 85g and despite raiding my bags of mixed fruit and nuts that usually adorn my cereal I could muster only 50g so a combination of pecans and brazil nuts came to the rescue. So whisking, beating, chopping nuts, whipping and icing and 3 hours later the cake was created! I would like to say now that personally it looks better than the taste test as if I can be brutally honest my substitute brazil nuts appear to be rather thirsty and in my Mary Berry opinion sucked all the moisture out of my master piece! Anyway, it was appreciated by my mum, dad and my brother-in-law's parents, but Bryan not so sure. H is comment was "it's not like your mum's"... well yes, I agree completely! But with the addition of at least two mugs of Cooling Towers coffee you could manage to swallow again! As I write this the sun is shining once more and sitting in my little corner I have had a further Cafeology Colombian Smoothie by my side so here is today’s recipe:  2 shots of Cafeology Colombian Coffee  2 bananas  150ml cold milk  Handful of ice  A cheeky shot of Mount Gay Rum  So the moral to this story is don’t tell everyone else to be careful and go around not picking your feet up yourself. And also Brazil nuts are certainly no substitute for walnuts. Finally, I decided that as a secret twitcher it would be somewhat cruel to feed that last sliver of the cake to my friendly blackbird, so it joins the carrot and the parsnip. Still not doing so bad though.     PS – Breaking Mushroom News! We have a white misty mould beginning to form so maybe next week folks! Toni Unkles  Finance Director

Easter 2020 has certainly been different and very challenging for the whole world and very far removed from any that I experienced so far in my life. I am writing this blog in an effort to remain positive as personally I have so much to be thankful for plus hopefully shine some positive light to the readers but as you are all acutely aware these are very sad and worrying times. On a much lighter note I appear to have made a little progress in relation to growing mushrooms as I can see a faint glimmer of what appears to be mould in one of the corner so in which case garlic mushrooms may be back on the menu at the weekend.  Lets see what tomorrow mornings little peak shows it could even be breakfast! Personally, I have found sanctuary in the top corner of my garden which is a very tranquil and previously unused area however this has quickly become my favourite place for quiet contemplation and yes you’ve guessed it a beautiful hand roasted coffee. My brew of choice this morning was our Roastology Aviator blend which we have been awarded both three and two stars from the Great Taste Awards. I find this particular blend of arabica from Ethiopia, Honduras and Sumatra works wonderfully with a little piece (well go on then a large piece) of Easter egg at around 10.55 in a morning! Our time in addition to drinking great Cafeology coffee and the odd glass of wine has been spent tirelessly developing and adapting our business at speed from dealing with business customers conversant with industry knowledge to people just like us all now finding themselves at home. We have adapted, tweaked, bolstered and all manner of other adjectives you can think to our online presence which I am pleased it getting better daily. However, the truth of the matter is that we are an independently owned business with genuine family values that will do all in its power to protect its team and deliver some exceptional quality coffees direct to our customers doors. What we are yet to learn in relation to our retail presence we definitely make up with in our product range, passion and provenance back to our producers all over the world.    We have lived for the last 17 years with the strapline of ‘100% Ethical in all that we do’ and now as ever we feel that this helps to deliver our honest message that when you place an order it really does matter to us all. One thing to note is that if before 3pm you will get it the following day! Anyway, anyone who does know me personally is aware that I love a little challenge so I have decided that now more than ever I need this to help me fill my days and feel a sense of achievement on a personal basis as well as work.  The two are inextricably linked really but my front door is certainly a personal matter that over the years has given me so many headaches as it leaks! The door is made of oak and so is like having another human being living with us as it moves and creaks with the sun, wind and rain but now that it has reached maturity at nine years old as the front to our house has settled down. So, now for the challenge as it requires to be sanded and looked after and made to look smart again so I shall hopefully be spending some summer evenings rubbing down and staining until it looks the part!     My contingency plan for any potential wet weather is back to baking and my next plan is a Cafeology Colombian Coffee and Walnut cake. I must admit that I am not the best of bakers in the family that honour goes to my Mum, Sister and now passed down to my niece Hannah. But I will give it a go. My recipe ideas so far on my more preferred savoury side has been the addition of a little crumbled  stilton the  top of a cottage pie along with browned leeks in the mash.    Also I was pleased to invent a slow cooked pork shoulder recipe for my Nephew who is isolating in Sheffield during his final year at Sheffield Hallam University who sent a great picture on WhatApp of his plate which looked a good hearty portion. One thing that I have yet to mention is that coffee is not just great to drink but the by products of roasting the ‘chaff’ can be used to dig into your soil at this time of year along with spent coffee grounds as they act as a fertiliser adding nitrogen into the ground. Well its time to pick up some sandpaper or will be it be a garden hoe to dig in all evidence of my numerous cups of coffee today! Toni Unkles  Finance Director

Well how do you start to capture the last few weeks in writing the short answer is that it is impossible to do so however it is interesting to reflect and look back on the emotional and mental adjustments we have all had to make which of course has been eased by drinking some amazing hand-roasted fresh coffee! Cafeology chose to close its office on Tuesday 17th March a week prior to lock down and during that time the company invoked its disaster contingency plans and kicked down plan B. We took the decision as we are a family run business and had the flexibility to make our own decision. We pride ourselves on being 100% ethical and felt that this was the right decision and it’s the right time to protect our wonderful team and their families. Our shift has been to switch its operations to supplying the consumer direct as overnight all our customers were forced to close their doors. Personally this has been the most challenging period of my life making hard decisions outside of my comfort zone and at breakneck speed. The initial feelings of panic have now subsided and replaced with feelings of thankfulness for to date the health of my family and friends, gratitude to all NHS and all the unsung heroes on the front line day to day and hope for the future. I have found daily hope from the small things that previously due to the pace of my life were too often missed such as pegging out washing on a sunny blowy day, having time to smell fresh cut grass from a neighbours garden or actually day dreaming and literally watching the kettle boil for that next cup of coffee. This brings me onto two of my main passions coffee and food as I literally can’t live without either! My love of coffee is that you cannot beat the thought of a fresh coffee to get you going in the morning a delicious Colombian is my favourite as it is smooth, with a sweet nutty flavour finishing on hints of caramel. Early on in the crisis I decided, well my panicked mind reverted back to my days as a girl guide that I should think ahead and grow my own food in this situation. So, I ordered a ‘Portabello grow your own mushroom kit’ alongside a potato planting kit from our friends at Amazon. Well to date I am still awaiting on the delivery of the potato kit and I am assuming that they have germinated in some distribution hub somewhere and at this rate may arrive fully grown and hopefully deep fried as chips! However, the same cannot be said for my trusty mushrooms that have been covered in soil and watered for seven days now. Each morning I take a peak and even have a sweep stake with our newly formed online pub as to which area will sprout and produce the beautiful food first. Anyway watch this space but I am not planning on a listing a mushroom omelette on our home menu this week. I am really enjoying though the new found sense of invention and learning that this time gives as everyday really is a school day again.  I am finding this challenge refreshing and rewarding but also feel a sense a guilt in using those words throughout this time as so much suffering and heartache is taking place as I write but keeping myself mentally strong is a requirement now and so this helps balance my emotions.      Each new day brings small new pleasures this morning as an example has been eating a soft boiled egg with soldiers in the garden washed down with a delicious Micro lot Costa Rican coffee grown by our dear friend Roberto Mata and roasted by Alastair at our roastery in Sheffield. Time has also allowed much more sleep and this in turn has allowed me to also reformat my mind giving room for other thoughts such as how to create a new smoothie which combines my normal rushed favourites coffee and bananas. We have this morning created a new delight two shots of espresso (through an Aeropress coffee maker ) we have used our winter coat blend, two bananas, a dash of maple syrup and ice blended for thirty seconds. Not sure what we will call this little caramel coloured delight but it tasted delicious and was full of flavour. My other passion that I have been unable to fulfil to any potential recently has been gardening I love being outdoors and prior to this crisis I was known to repeatedly state - all I want is time. Well now I have it its making sure I put things to good use. Whilst sitting in the garden my day dreaming results in look at the garden fence to decide the next shade to choose as clearly in need of some TLC and then scrambling in the cupboard to see if we have brushes and paint and planning on the next sunny day that from the shed to the cherry tree is my new target! Naturally the same as everyone else I am desperately missing my family and friends however still feel very connected through WhatsApp, Teams and other social media platforms, its great to see such good coming from Facebook and Instagram.     Pop up pubs, family online baking and group chats form the basis of the daily structure and help to keep us all connected in a new and very real way. I must dash as I have my home-made bread dough proving and I am due back for the next WhatsApp kneading stage with my Mum and Sister, who spookily enough have all chosen a stripy top to wear today so have named our group the Stripy Bakers roll over The Hairy Bikers you are not a patch on us! Toni Unkles  Finance Director

Last month we participated in the MacMillan Coffee Morning, as we hosted a coffee and pastries morning at Roastology. Every penny we raised means Macmillan can help more people with cancer live life as fully as they can. Local customers, offices and friends visited the roastery on the morning to sample our own hand roasted Roastology coffee, which tasted even better accompanied by pastries donated by our friends at Cawa Bakeries. On the day we raised a total of £241 and have decided to increase the total donation to £500. We are also delighted to be supporting another charity this year, which came about through Bryan and Toni meeting new friends whilst travelling in Japan. During their Rugby World Cup adventure in September, they met fellow Scotland rugby support Jo Williamson.  Over a few Kirin beers and laughs they got to know Jo’s story which has resulted in the donation to his very worthy cause.     Jo’s wife was diagnosed in 1993 with a very rare form of cancer, for which she fought bravely for 10 years until 2003 when she sadly passed away. At that time, they did not know that the cancer could be passed on and after some testing, two of his youngest children have inherited their mother’s pheo-cancer gene.    Jo is now raising money to help his own charity Phae & Para Cancer Charity (SC048589) and we are delighted to be supporting him with a donation of £500.     If you wish to learn more about Jo’s family story ready here:    https://donation.macmillan.org.uk/wbcm/payin?&_ga=2.43535205.1949094361.1571658911-371229396.1571658911#.VS5wUdzF9FU    https://wonderful.org/charity/thephaeoandparacancercharity

I wanted to do my work experience at Cafeology as I thought it was a good opportunity to find out what work is like in a warehouse also to see what sorts of coffee there is and how it is produced. I was lucky enough to be accepted to work as part of the Cafeology and Roastology Team. On my first day I was very nervous as I didn’t know what to expect but when I met all the staff at the warehouse I was put at ease. Everyone was very friendly and treated me like I was part of the team. Steve (who was my line manager) talked me through all the Health and Safety, Hygiene and Fire procedures and made sure I had understood everything. I was then given a hi-vis vest and had a tour around the warehouse/roastery to see all the different work areas. Once my tour had finished I went and worked with Greg who showed me the warehouse cleaning process and how to use the pump truck, he then let me clean an area of the warehouse and ensured I completed the cleaning record. I was then showed how to pick a customer order and Greg explained the importance of best before dates as well as batch codes and ensuring the batch codes are written on the pick lists. He also explained product coding and the location of products. Greg talked me through the difference between courier delivery (DPD) orders and hand delivery orders. He showed me how to pack DPD deliveries and print off DPD labels so the order/s are delivered to the correct customer. I was also showed where to put hand deliveries once picked. Other jobs I did over my work experience: Coffee Roasting - when I first went onto the roasting the green beans - creating Roastology blended coffee, Steve showed and talked me through the process. He started me with an RMP003 (roast master product) once the roast had finished, he ask me questions about roasting to ensured I have listened to him and had understood the process. I did further roasts of RMP001, RMP004 & RMP006 under the supervision of Steve and Chay. Steve would kept asking me questions very enthusiastically about the roasting process like: “What temperature are you changing the airflow at?”  “What do we not change it at?”  “What temperature are you dropping it at?”  “What temperature are you not dropping it at?“  “Why do we do tests and record the temperature?”  I would always answer with a smile.  I did do one roast unsupervised which was a RMP001 and Steve passed it with the comment of “well done chief”. This did boost my confidence. Roasting the coffee was my favourite job. I found it interesting learning about all the different blends of coffee and how to make a perfect blend by dropping and changing the airflow at different temperatures (270,370 and 430-446). I also did some packing of Roastology coffee beans. Luke talked me through the process of packing and labelling the coffee bags and boxes. I than packed the Cafe Excelso Espresso beans for University of Sheffield, which are in brown 1kg bags and are packed eight to a box. I had to ensure the weight was accurate for all the bags. Barista training with Scott was so much harder than I expected as you have to get the right amount of ground coffee and it has to be level. The milk has to be the right temperature and has to have the right amount of foam specific to the type of coffee you are making. I did enjoy this but wasn’t very confident in this area. While I was doing my training Steve popped up to see how I was getting on and asked for a Cappuccino but I didn’t know how to make one, so I made him a latte, it took multiple attempts to make it right. I don’t think I will be a barista in the future. Thanks Scott for your patience. Delivering customers orders via hand delivery with Roger was fun as I got to meet some customers, while seeing some of the country sights within Derbyshire. I found the customers very friendly and happy to have receive they orders. Roger talked me through the delivery process, made me check the stock out of the van matched the customer’s order before going into the customer. I had to ensure the delivery note was signed and dated by the customer. It was a busy day for deliveries and it was physical work, but the day went so fast and I did enjoy delivering orders. Overall I enjoyed my work experience at Cafeology/Roastology warehouse and have gained a lot of knowledge about the coffee business, especially the roasting side of it.  A BIG THANK YOU to Steve for being very patient with me and explaining all the processed to me while also being cheery. Also thank you to Chay, Greg, Roger, Scott and Luke for passing on knowledge and helping me complete my work duties and also for making my 2 weeks with Cafeology/Roastology enjoyable. Thank you to Toni and Bryan for the opportunity to work within your company.  Aaron Maris