Grind and Brew’s coffee bean delivery service
The Rusthall garden where I meet Chris Bonwick is well set up for an enviable self-sufficiency, with a covered outdoor terrace, two pizza ovens, hens, a treehouse, a workshop and an abundance of flowers, herbs and vegetables growing. I am there to talk about his new coffee bean delivery service. While I am there, he makes me a wonderful and beautifully presented coffee.
“Latte art is a finishing touch; it probably means the barista cares about the coffee. I’m constantly trying to improve what I am doing. I’m always trying to make a better cup of coffee,” says Chris, of the ethos behind Grind and Brew, which he describes as an eclectic mix of things he likes – fresh coffee, bread, pizza and bespoke woodwork. If there were two words that bring it all together, they would be fresh and sustainable.
“Grind and Brew started as a coffee blog on Instagram where I took pictures of the cups of coffee I had at various places and wrote about them. I developed Grind and Brew as a brand from that, with no firm plans about where I was taking it. Another passion of mine is woodwork, and I started doing little bits and pieces like making bespoke furniture for Fine Grind coffee shop. I use recycled materials a lot – I’ve just finished making tables for them out of reclaimed scaffolding and coasters out of plywood offcuts that would otherwise have been thrown away.”
How does a coffee bean subscription service work? “The idea is that the customer doesn’t have to do very much at all – I deliver freshly roasted coffee beans to their door in a reusable container that I can collect the following week. They can just text me to order or skip a week. I do decaffeinated beans as well.” Sustainability and the environment are particularly important to him. “I do most of my deliveries on my bike, and so I’m keeping it very local to Rusthall, Langton Green and Groombridge. I also deliver to Crowborough as that is where my mum lives, but I keep it to places I would be going to anyway as from an environmental perspective I don’t want to be driving excessively.”
Chris was inspired to start the delivery service by the The Bread Smith, an artisan baker in Tunbridge Wells whose customers text him for sourdough and cinnamon buns delivered to their door. “I realised I could do the same thing with coffee,” he explains. “I work with Corban coffee roasters in Sevenoaks, who I get the beans from. They are a blend of beans from three estates, one in El Salvador and two in Brazil. Most people find a blend easier to drink than a single origin. It’s for people who like to grind their own beans – when you grind your own coffee beans you have eight seconds before it goes stale.”
In his day job Chris works for a company who make exhibition vans for big companies. “Grind and Brew is more of a self-funding hobby I pursue in evenings and weekends. It has developed naturally out of the things I’m passionate about and want to share with others.” He and his wife and two children have lived in Rusthall for seven years and are part of the volunteer team who deliver Rusthall Life magazine. “We love the community, it’s its own village, it has everything you need,” he says.
To find out more visit www.grindandbrew.co.uk
