Better Coffee, Everyday
Meet Black Dog
I don't love coffee blends. For me, one of the best things about speciality coffee is celebrating what an individual farmer has grown and produced. Blends are often created to deliver the same flavour profile all year round, and while I completely understand why many roasters do that, I've always been more excited by coffees that reflect a specific place, season and harvest.
Speciality single origin coffee feels much closer to the world of fine wine. My roasting and your brewing both play a huge part in balancing flavour, but I genuinely believe most of a coffee's character is created long before it reaches the roastery. It's shaped by the variety, the climate, the processing and the incredible work happening on the farm. That's the part of coffee I find most fascinating.
That said, I also understand that having a reliable, comforting coffee is important. Black Dog is my way of achieving that without blending. Every few months I source a new single origin coffee that delivers those classic, familiar flavours I love. The origin may change throughout the year, but the style stays the same.
I want Black Dog to be the coffee you can enjoy every day. It's roasted to make a beautiful espresso or flat white at Bond Street Coffee in Brighton, while also brewing a delicious Hario V60, Aeropress or any other filter coffee method at home.
If you don't know where to start, this is it. Black Dog single origin coffee beans are perfect, everyday. Comforting, but never boring.
Nanny Freda
I love roasting coffee! There is something so fascinating about how you can change so many small variables that drastically affect the results in the cup. It's where science meets art. Trying to find the perfect roast is a never-ending journey where you learn something new every day, from batch to batch.
I have been running Bond Street Coffee since 2014, and making espresso for customers is a part of my life I never want to truly leave behind. There is something special about being able to serve someone something that, on the surface, seems so simple, but when it's done right can become one of life's simple pleasures. That quiet moment in the morning, alone with a coffee, is one of my favourite things.
Whenever I travel to a new city, finding somewhere for my morning coffee is just as important to me as discovering great restaurants or sightseeing. Drinking coffee in cafés like Tim Wendelboe, Five Elephant, The Barn, Workshop and Flat White genuinely changed the way I think about coffee, and ultimately changed the direction of my career.
Launching the roastery as Freda last year was an important step for me. It gave me the chance to step away from Bond Street a little and focus more on the roasting side of the business. Freda was my Nan's name, and when she passed away she left me a small amount of money that helped me open my first café. It's thanks to her that my career in coffee is where it is today.
Green Bean Sourcing
I once read that around 60% of a coffee bean's flavour comes from its origin and processing, with around 20% coming from how it's roasted and the remaining 20% from how it's brewed.
Whether those numbers are actually true, I couldn't tell you. Coffee is probably far too subjective to ever measure it like that. But it's always stuck with me, and it sums up how I think about speciality coffee.
If you start with a bad-tasting coffee, you have to work incredibly hard to make it taste good. But if you start with a beautifully grown and carefully processed single origin coffee, the "window of deliciousness" becomes much, much wider when it comes to roasting and brewing it. (Yes, "window of deliciousness" is a phrase I made up, but feel free to steal it.)
That's why sourcing exceptional green coffee is one of the most important parts of what I do. I work with a handful of trusted UK coffee importers to find coffees I genuinely love drinking, cupping samples regularly before deciding what to roast.
When I'm choosing a coffee, I always come back to three simple questions.
Firstly, do I love it?
Secondly, do I think our customers will love it?
And finally, is it priced sensibly enough that people will actually buy it?
One of my favourite importers is Falcon Speciality in nearby Lewes. Being so close means I can regularly visit to cup coffees and see what's just arrived. Their coffees are sourced through Direct Trade relationships, with a strong focus on traceability, transparency and making sure producers are paid fairly for the coffee they've worked so hard to grow.
I also get asked a lot about co-fermented coffees in the café, which I don't currently stock. They're incredibly fashionable in speciality coffee right now and maybe one day I'll find one that changes my mind. But so far, I simply haven't tasted one that I genuinely prefer.
For me, there's something much more exciting about a coffee that naturally develops incredible blueberry, strawberry or tropical fruit flavours because of its variety, terroir and processing than one where those flavours have been introduced during fermentation. Maybe I'll be convinced one day, but for now I'm still chasing coffees that achieve those flavours naturally.
Coffee for Every Way You Brew
Great coffee should taste exceptional whichever way you brew it. Every coffee at Freda includes simple brew recommendations, making it easy to get the best from your beans whether you're using an Aeropress, V60, French Press, espresso machine, moka pot or bean-to-cup machine.
Alongside speciality coffee beans, you'll also find carefully selected brewing equipment, filters and easy-to-follow brew guides to help you make consistently delicious coffee at home. Whether you're completely new to speciality coffee or have been brewing for years, my aim is always the same: to help you enjoy better coffee, every day.
Looking for speciality coffee beans roasted in the UK?
-
Aeropress Filter Papers
Regular price £9.00 GBPRegular price -
Aeropress Original Coffee Maker
Regular price £38.00 GBPRegular price -
BLACK RAIN
Regular price From £13.00 GBPRegular price
Let customers speak for us
Thankyou coffee Jesus for this most clean and balanced selection of beans...my cup runneth over xx
Always a fabulous coffee at Bond St, and Freda delivers every time! Expertly made ..sorry...crafted by Chris and his team.
It's no wonder Bond St always rates highly in Brightons best coffee houses!
Really banging coffee , loved having my local coffee shop in the comfort of my own home ! 😍😍😍
Hands down some of the best coffee I’ve had — I keep finding excuses to order more.
Such a great flavour!! Would highly recommend