Shortly after forming the business, our Giesen W15 arrived – the roaster we still currently use – and we christened her “Hot Brenda”. Most small roasteries start off with a 6kg or even a 3kg machine, but heck, we were young, ambitious and confident that we’d soon be roasting tonnes of coffee a week, so decided to jump the gun and go straight for the 15kg. 4 years down we the road we’re extremely confident using the machine: be it a full load or a 500g roast, we know her inside and out. We love our roaster and do not regret getting her from the get go, however, it influenced the startup of our company.
Santander
We moved to a small city to get away from the hustle and bustle of London. The south facing bay gently packed with sailboats and the snow-topped mountains backdrop of Santander on the northern coast of Spain, was just what were looking for. We had found our city, now to our café/roastery.
We’d like to share the story of how our current home came into being.
Our 1st Café
Our first locale was in a 60m2 ex bakery in Daoiz y Velarde. It had orange and black walls, half the floor tiles were broken and the back yard was a dumping ground for the upstairs neighbours trash, stray cat refuse and all the storm drains were completely blocked by the sediment runoff from the hill behind the building, meaning it would flood every time there was rain, which in Santander, is a lot of the time.
DIY - Do it Yourself.
We had blown most of our budget on the W15 instead of getting a smaller roaster, so had to get DIY’ing to be able to do the place up. Walls were painted, furniture was built, tiles were laid, drains cleared out, bathrooms refurbished, kitchens built out of thin air and of course the back yard was thoroghly emptied of all contents, before being restocked with ferns and other plants to become a little garden paradise in the city.
The Coziest Café in town
While the Daoiz locale was unquestionably cozy, we were constantly on the lookout for a larger locale to make it more accomodating for our wholesale operations. We finally found something suitable in winter 2019. The space was large (250m2), bright and had 6 metre ceilings. The only problem was, it was a complete ruin: a derilict car-mechanic and car-wash, with no floor, no water, no drains, no gas and no electricity. But it was soooo coooool.
DIY Repeat
To fund the renovation of the new place, we decided to “Traspaso” the locale in Daoiz. We were just about to finalize the transfer in February 2020, when the pandemic reared its ugly head and scuppered the deal. We decided to go ahead with the move anyway and move our roastery to its new location in Antonio Lopez 40. Unfortunately, the money we were expecting from the traspaso of our locale in Daoiz was now no longer coming, so we had to once again put on our DIY hats and do as much as possible ourselves.
Lockdown ended up being an excellent opportunity for us to get the works done and have everything up and running by the time people were allowed outside again in May.
Hot Brenda has a home
The current sitatuation of temporary closures and openings however, means that our space is still evolving and the layout is constantly changing, but at least the roaster has a new home and there is lots of space!
Next Steps
So what’s next for the roastery? Well, they are knocking down the warehouses directly in front of us and pedestrianising the space, so we will see the mountains and sea when that’s done and so the aim is by next summer (2022) to have everything open again and apart from the slick wholesale operation, we’re going to be offering a more complete café experience: a brunch offering with vistas over the bay and a nice big terrace to enjoy the best of what Santander has to give.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Be the first to receive news about fresh arrivals, brewing tips, collaborations and special offers.