Ask the Roaster
Click here to read more about Fran and his 100 year family journey through tea and coffee culminating in the founding of Moonroast.
About
The Bradshaws have specialised in the coffee and tea trades for four generations and more than a hundred years.
In 2014 the fourth generation of Bradshaws started roasting coffee in a barn in rural Hampshire, by the light of the moon. And so Moonroast, with its impressive coffee pedigree, was born and the story continues.
Moonroast Coffee is situated in delightfully rural surroundings, in the heart of the Candover Valley. Francis Bradshaw has created an artisan roastery making small batch, slow roasted coffee with beans sourced from the best smallholders in the world. Francis’ father, Haydon Bradshaw, one of Britain’s top coffee tasters, still brings his expertise to Moonroast’s speciality coffee journey.
Our aim is to help spread the word that exceptional coffee is available to all and we should accept no less. Bean to Cup is an involved process and there are many factors that determine whether a high quality cup of coffee is enjoyed. We aim to influence this process at each stage.
We are interested in the source of the coffee and like to know how it is grown, processed and stored. We source our green coffee beans with care, where possible from smallholders, offering consistency and high quality in a sustainable and ethical way.
At Moonroast, we hand roast all our coffees in small batches using our Probat roaster which will roast between 6 – 12kg of green beans at a time. We also use Probat sample roasters which will roast 100g at a time and enables us to sample different coffees from around the world.
Dog and Hat
Alresford is a corner of Hampshire that not many people may have heard of. However, for a couple of train buffs like us, the great little steam railway 'The Watercress Line' has a station there. So when we used to go and visit, we started to hear about this great little roastery called Moonroast (and what a great logo they have too). We contacted Fran and asked if he wanted to get involved with Dog and Hat, and we're very happy to say that he agreed.