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Small Batch
Personalised
Excellence

High-grade specialty coffee, roasted to your taste.
Traceable from estate to cup.

Who is The Wychwood Roaster?

The Wychwood Roaster is a solo operation, run by me, Edwin Touw.

I am a self-taught specialty coffee roaster with over 15 years of experience working in the coffee industry.

Since getting ahold of the basics of espresso machines at chain restaurants, I have been fascinated by the near endless variables that go into making a good brew. And found a sense of pride in being ‘the great coffee guy’ wherever I was working.

When I found my first local independent roastery, I knew I could get closer to better beans and expertise. I applied, got accepted, and the next few weeks of training were explosive. I had a great mentor in Louis Greenleaves who now owns and runs Bruin Cafe in Wheatley. He had opened a Truck Store in Cowley before we met, so I was driven to soak up his experience.

This turned into years of asking questions, listening, asking more questions, trying new ideas and more listening. First, sharpening my service skills, brewing espresso, steaming milk and brewing filter coffee. Every aspect broken down, analysed and optimised to provide quality with speed. And later in 2019 I would support Louis in the opening of Bruin Café.

Progression from here was management. Responsibility and control over a team, a menu, and during 2020 keeping the bills paid. I took the role at Society Café in Oxford. And I had another explosive learning experience.

I went from being responsible for my team’s work to a high level, to total responsibility for the shop’s operation at a high level. If it weren’t for Covid pressures and a long commute, I likely would have stayed here much longer. But at this point in my life, I had hit a wall.

Feeling a little bruised and having a lot of time on my hands during the first 2020 lockdown, I took a step back and could see a new direction ahead. Roasting. Access to machinery and expertise is much harder to come by here, so alongside talking to as many commercial roasters I could find, I bought myself a countertop roaster to grasp some basic principles.

Years of the same process that made me excel in brewing and service, brings me here now.

What Matters to Me

Coffee likes to grow at high altitudes within the tropics, on every continent. Sunny days, cool nights, frequent rainfall and fertile soil provide ideal conditions for slow maturing fruit. This creates complex flavour.

Further pressure is applied by large roasting firms demanding stable prices for their consumers while production costs fluctuate and increase. This squeeze on both ends leads to an increase in worldwide soil degradation practices and falling living standards for all those involved in the supply chain.

Areas around the world producing complex coffees are shrinking rapidly. Rampant inflation, increasing labour costs and shifting climate pressure producers to employ cheaper, short-termist soil degrading practices.

As the market share of excellent coffee increases, the land that is managed sustainably will increase.

Where I come in

I am only interested in buying high-scoring, world-class beans.

By being selective in my purchasing, and only choosing producers who can provide evidence of sustainable growing practices, your purchase will be invested in the land and the people responsible for its guardianship.

Since I roast at such a small scale, I’m well-positioned for roasting tiny lots from highly specific sub-regions. Producers who cannot fulfil such enormous minimum quantities required for large roasters to maximise profit margins are left to throw their lots in with their neighbours, leaving the particular eccentricities and particularities of their harvests off the table for consumers.

Additionally, coffees produced using new and unique processing or growing practices are often left on the table for large roasters as they correctly fear the fickle nature of consumers looking for a novel coffee experience. Every roaster feels the pressure to sell their stock before it goes stale. Something very challenging for unusual lots.

Unlike any others in the industry I am aware of, I do not batch roast and push to sell while stock begins to stale. I buy small-scale, I roast to order and to taste. You decide how to experience your product. When ordering, you choose the roast colour based on your preference. How these qualities impact the flavour and experience of each coffee with differ and be explained on each product information page.

If you have any coffee-related queries, I am always looking forward to helping inform the public on making better purchasing decisions and understanding how their investments can impact the industry.

I can be contacted via wychwood.roaster@gmail.com and reply as soon as possible. I look forward to answering your questions and roasting some of the world’s best coffees, to your taste.

Personalised Specialty Fresh Roasted Coffee

Personalised Specialty Fresh Roasted Coffee