HOUSE ROAST – STEWARTS OF NOTTINGHAM

A SERIES OF THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS FROM CASTLE ROCKIANS DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS.

This week’s blog post comes from our friends at Stewarts Coffees (who provide the delicious coffee we serve in our pubs).

Hello Castle Rock family! Greetings from the roastery. Friday, a time we’d usually be rushing round filling bags and boxes to stock up venues for a busy weekend, the coffee van screeching in an out of the market to pick up for more deliveries, some quality banter at the packing desk in anticipation of a couple of days enjoying the sunshine, then some frantic tidying and sweeping up of rogue coffee beans before a much-anticipated pint.

I say usually…! Bit different now though, ain’t it? We’ve gone from “wtf” to “wfh”, and we’re all glued to the news for the green light to freedom!

Like the rest of your blogs on your website though, we’re not at home to “doom-and-gloom”. We’ve got plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

• We’re still open for business. Stewarts is staffed 3 days a week. We’re roasting and packing, sorting out and planning. We love our home at Sneinton Market so it’s great to be able to still come in and fire up the espresso machine.
• We are still sending out coffee to businesses. Some customers are either selling our coffee on their own websites, some have set up market stalls, are partially for takeaway, or even asking around their friends and family to see if they can get a decent order together. We appreciate it.
• Part of our business has increased (yes!). We’ve got a load of new web customers, ordering coffee for home. Not just Nottingham-based newbies either – we’re sending coffee all over the UK, as people have a bit more time to search online for artisan coffee.
• This year started out great for us. Coffee sales well up, some great new customers in the pipeline, some awesome events in the calendar, plans to extend the Stewarts/Blend portfolio within the city. All these things will still happen, in one form or another!

Want some more positives? The sun’s out more often now so you can justify cracking open that first beer a little earlier than usual!

So, make sure you live in those tatty shorts whilst you can. Keep clapping key-workers. Say hello to the postie. Make bread, paint stuff, drink great beer…and great coffee!

Speaking of which, you know we’re missing the Castle Rock crew, so we’d love you to make the most of “castlerockcoffee” – a 20% discount code on coffee ordered via our website: www.stewartscoffees.co.uk.

Now might be the time to try to try some different coffees. Current faves of ours are some stunning African coffees from Uganda and Ethiopia. Put the code in at checkout. Spread the good word amongst your gang. We’ll post out the coffee, or you can pick up from the roaster (don’t worry, we’ll shout nicely at you from a distance!).

Stay safe, stay positive…and see you at the bar soon!

The Stewarts of Trent Bridge team