George Orwell may have written that ‘tea is one of the mainstays of civilisation in this country’ – but we have to acknowledge that the coffee business in Cumbria is full of beans.

Our thirst for the humble cuppa, certainly outside of the home, has waned to make way for fancy Americanos, macchiatos and cappuccinos.

No pouring water over dried granules for us. The dawn of a new era of caffeinated cool has replaced the pinky-raised china cup. A teabag in a mug just doesn’t give the illusion of living in caffeinated leisure at a pavement cafe.

“Tea is elegant but coffee is sexy and scientific,” said Angharad MacDonald.

Angharad and her partner Gareth Kemble moved to Keswick from their home in Dolgellau, Wales, in 2009 and missed freshly roasted coffee so much that they decided to make their own.

They launched Carvetii in September 2011, with their base on the Embleton business park near Cockermouth. As well as buying in the beans from around the world, roasting and supplying them, the couple also provide the machinery, hardware and increasingly technical apparatus to make a brew.

Angharad says the nation’s love affair with coffee shows no sign of cooling. In the space of under a year, the pair have sold 16 coffee machines to current customers and new coffee shops.


Carvetii coffee beans

“It is the whole dark art of making a cup of coffee. It tantalises you. You want a piece of that. If tea is traditional, then coffee is rock ‘n’ roll. You wouldn’t see a coffee pot served in a knitted tea cosy,” she added.

However, when disaster comes calling, there’s no coffee pot in sight. We always say, “I’ll put the kettle on and make a nice cup of tea”.

“The tea bag has killed tea. But I have now stepped up from using a bag to using loose tea and I can tell the difference and quality of that tea,” said Angharad.

“If there was a tea blender out there that could educate Cumbria, tea would be up there. Is it just true that tea has not moved forward? I believe, however, that it will come back. A proper cup of tea with a dash of milk and some sugar,” she added.

It was a bold move for the couple to set up a business importing and selling specialist coffee in the teeth of a recession.

“People have been cutting back and saving money but having a lovely coffee is a cheap way of treating yourself,” added Angharad.

Tea has been a feature of national life since the 1700s and subsequently through the 1800s when it arrived under sail from China on tea clippers like the Cutty Sark.

But it is a fact that Britons spent £7.9bn in coffee shops last year, with sales across the market 10 per cent higher than last year as café culture tightened its grip on the UK.

Regular English breakfast tea has more health benefits than coffee, according to recent studies.

One from Harvard University has discovered the immune cells of people who drink tea in the morning responded five times faster to germs than coffee drinkers.

The scientists there think tea reduces stress levels, whereas other caffeinated drinks, like coffee, can raise them and over time can weaken your immune system.

But if that is true it hasn’t stopped the number of coffee shops going past 20,000 mark in 2015, driven by a 12 per cent increase in the number of branded coffee chains, according to the Project Cafe 2016 UK report from Allegra World Coffee Portal.

<img src="http://www.cnnewmedia.co.uk/locker/ns/image/Copy of or1l54vtdqoz1o45r4k4ud452332696(1).jpg" alt="Carvetii photo" title="Carvetii roasters, from left: Angharad McDonald, Stephen Kidd and Gareth Kemble" width="625">

Costa, Starbucks and Caffè Nero, which together control more than half of the branded coffee shop market, led the sector’s 15 per cent growth to £3.3bn in annual turnover. These high street brands have 1,992, 849 and 620 outlets respectively.

JD Wetherspoon is taking on the high-street coffee chains with the launch of takeaway tea and coffee for just 99p. But those seeking a flat white or skinny decaf latte will be disappointed – the company will offer only Lavazza filter coffee and Tetley tea.

“When do you hear people say, ‘We’ll meet up for a cup of tea?’, said cafe owner Bruce Brown.

Bruce and partner Luke Jackson run the popular Foxes Cafe in Abbey Street, and have invested hugely in selling the best coffee in Carlisle.

“Tea is a science of its own but coffee is where my heart lies,” said Bruce.

The pair bought a traditional 1950s Italian roaster and have been preparing their own specially-sourced beans. They even introduced a coffee cupping event which enables customers to compare the flavours of coffee from different origins. 

It is a process of putting ground coffee in a cup on top of hot water. It is infused and forms a crust which is broken before the coffee is smelt, stirred or tasted.

People do love the theatre of making that cup of coffee for them

“The thing about the independents is they can react to what people are saying and act on it. People may say they fancy a relaxing cup of tea, but coffee is the one they go to when they want a lift,” added Bruce.

“Coffee is like wine but there are more tasting notes to coffee, which is hard to believe. One of the tools we use is a coffee cupping wheel. It is used for tasting and can show up any defects.”

“Coffee is definitely my drink. I live on the stuff. If I do have a cup of tea I have sugar with it but I would never have sugar in my coffee,” said Bruce.

And word has got round about their coffee and the business is already supplying other cafes and restaurants in Carlisle and further afield, as well as barber’s shops, a tattoo parlour and other businesses.

“We’re having a new kitchen put in and we’ll be doing more coffee cupping events,” said Bruce.

The rich aroma of roasted coffee has hovered in the air of the city centre for more than a century, thanks to John and William Watt.

They started roasting coffee beans in 1865 and current owner Peter Johnstone says the growth of coffee over the last 10 years has been massive.

“People are becoming more discerning about coffee and where they get their coffee from. I do not discount tea. I think tea is equally on the move for people who enjoy loose tea leaves,” said Peter.

Peter and Carol Johnstone took over Watts eight months ago and say the coffee market landscape in Carlisle has grown significantly.

“We now have six independent roasters in the city. People are looking for something a bit different. A conversation I had recently was about how the biggest threat to the Costa coffee shop chain is the growth of the independent,” said Peter.

“But tea will start to come back. We carry two home-grown teas from Scotland. However, people do love the theatre of making that cup of coffee for them,” he added.