Meet the Artisan Coffee Roaster Exhibiting at Living North LIVE in York
Returning this weekend to Living North LIVE at York Racecourse, we caught up with Robert Lucas from The North Bar Roasting Company to find out more about his exceptional coffee
‘It started about five years ago. I’d retired but started roasting coffee for friends and relatives and everybody said “can I have some more,”’ Robert explains. ‘I’m really passionate about roasting it and coffee is one of my favourite things so I thought I’d do something with that – it’s just grown out of that.’
Though the business has grown significantly since it started, Robert is still a one-man operation. ‘It’s a true, proper little artisan business. I do everything myself – when people buy coffee from me I’ve roasted it. I know when it was roasted, I know how it was roasted, it’s almost like going to a really nice restaurant and the chef coming out. It’s quite a personal thing.’
The flavour of the coffee is important to Robert, who likes to keep his beans as natural as possible. ‘The farmers have come up with all sorts of different methods of secondary fermentation now, which gives the coffee beans more natural flavours. I’m not talking about putting a syrup or anything like that into the coffee beans when we’ve roasted them, it’s a natural flavour that occurs in the farming process,’ he explains. ‘What really sets me apart is I’ve never had a yearning to supply the wholesale market. I’ve only got a small roaster so I only roast in small batches. Because of that, my coffee is super fresh.’
Robert takes us through some of his coffee blend highlights. ‘I’ve got three main blends that are the staples of the business. The first one is Yorkshire Coast, a proper Sunday afternoon, put your feet up with a big piece of cake blend. It’s super smooth, it’s intense with lots of chocolate and caramel flavour. That’s three South American coffees that I blend together,’ says Robert. He describes his Minster blend as similar to a breakfast blend, with a good kick to it. Finally, his strongest signature blend is called Black Mill. ‘Black Mill is this old windmill on some pastureland we have here and it’s really daunting and painted black. That is my strongest coffee, and if you’re having a bad day then Black Mill will sort you out. It’s four of my strongest coffees in terms of the caffeine content, and I roast it just that tiny bit over medium.’
Never one to rest on his laurels, when we speak to Robert he’s in the middle of setting up a brand new home in Beverley for The North Bar Roasting Company. ‘We’ve got the shop opening next week and it’s all hands on deck for that. It’s like a tea and coffee emporium. The shop is just giving me the chance to put each coffee on a shelf and have a little plaque with it to tell you who the farmer is, and to tell you where it’s from.’
Robert has also recently expanded the business to include delicious loose leaf tea alongside his coffee offering. ‘That’s taken off amazingly. It’s good because when I do food festivals, you’ll get a couple and one of them will be a coffee lover and the other one will say they hate the stuff, but they like tea,’ he explains. ‘I’ve got single-origin top quality estate tea that people who are really into their teas will like. Then I’ve got lovely green teas and flavoured green teas. Everything is all natural with no added sugar.’
Ahead of Living North LIVE, Robert promises to have his crowd-pleasing seasonal Easter blend available. ‘I always do an Easter coffee which will be out for the show. That is two of my single origin coffees which have the most natural chocolatey characteristics. That’s one of those that people ask for throughout the year.’
