Ask the Roaster

Click the link to read more from Sean about Heart and Graft

About

The simple stuff, done very well!

Fed up with a complete lack of speciality coffee in his home city of Manchester, James set up The Coffee Circle in 2012 and set about learning the complex craft of roasting, whilst working as a barista. Sean was the youngest Q grader in the country, and origin trips in his previous role as assistant buyer and taster with Lincoln and York set him firmly on the path of coffee love! Keen to be part of building something special in Manchester, he has teamed up with James.

As well as searching out and roasting beautiful coffee gems for coffee shops and customers, our vision for the roastery is to be a place where people can come and be inspired by the journey coffee takes from field to cup. Regular cupping events, barista throw downs and training days all contribute to the fabulous rich tradition of the way coffee builds community.

Heart and Graft is built behind a faux vicorian facade of reclaimed wood and glass inside an old lightbulb factory and houses our beautiful purple and brass Giesen W15 roaster. We are part of Artwork Atelier, a community of creatives doing cool stuff in the Greengate area on the border of Salford and Manchester, the only place in the country where two cities meet.

Dog and Hat

During our numerous trips across the country to Manchester, we started to pick up on a particular roaster that was making some really amazing coffees (and also had some awesome packaging).  The more we looked into it, the more we realised that they also had a real passion for coffee and the communities that grow it.  As bourne out by their direct trade arrangements with Miriam Perez's Las 3 Naruas farm in Honduras.

So we got on the phone to them, set up a meeting and got some samples... we never looked back.  Oh, and did we mention they have a purple Giesen coffee roaster - how cool is that?