Maker Spotlight: The Flat Cap Coffee Roasting Co

The Flat Cap Coffee Roasting Co. may be tucked away on a business estate in Ludgershall, but they’re roasting coffees from all over the world and experimenting to find the perfect blends.

We chatted to husband-and-wife team Mark and Alex Hepworth about how they turned their passion for coffee into a business. 

How did Flat Cap Coffee become a reality?

Alex: Mark left the army in 2016 after being discharged with complex PTSD, so we had a lot of challenges going on, and we didn’t want to be just sat at home. We’d take the kids to school and then go to a coffee shop and chat about what our future would be. We knew we wanted to do something for ourselves, but not quite sure what form that would take. 

Mark took a business course through Help for Heroes and halfway through, he just said “What about coffee? We drink a lot of coffee, we love it – so let’s roast it,” and it grew from there. We went on a roasting course, really enjoyed it, and threw ourselves in at the deep end – we started a business with absolutely no customers, but it’s kept growing and we really enjoy what we do. 

What did you discover on that roasting course about coffee and the different types of beans? 

Mark: Even if you buy ground coffee at the supermarket, or go to a coffee shop, you normally have a bit of an idea of what goes into roasting a coffee, but we learned a lot about where the coffee actually comes from and the different farmers across the world – from Indonesia to Brazil, Sumatra to Kenya, there’s all kinds of different varieties.

Alex: A lot of people don’t realise that coffee beans start off green! And they’re absolutely rock solid. 

Mark: I really like that scientific side of it, how to roast the coffee and the process you follow. It’s quite therapeutic, but you’ve really got to keep focused as coffee can be burned and ruined quite quickly. And after you’ve done that, it’s onto packing – getting it all into the bags, the box, get the boxes looking nice, and sending them off. It’s a really lovely sense of accomplishment getting the coffee roasted and packed. 

How did you start to grow the business locally?

Alex: When we started, we had one customer that was starting up a coffee shop at the same time – they were doing what we were doing, starting afresh! And then after that, we sold coffee to Tedworth House, the military recovery house, for their coffee shop and that gave us confidence that we had good coffee, and we were doing something right. 

Mark: We took part in a few fairs to get our name out there but it’s grown holistically from there – mostly word of mouth. 

Alex: It’s interesting though because people are drawn by their noses, too, so they’ll come in to the roastery and say ‘can we buy a coffee?’ – they’re always expecting just a coffee shop, and are blown away by the roastery, which never gets old! 

And how about further afield? 

Alex: We’ve got a business customer who’s got a gym right up in the top of Scotland, and we send it to the oil rigs up off the Scottish coast as well. One of our customers has taken it all the way out to Australia to share with their family over Christmas, too. 

How do you come up with your different blends? 

Mark: Trial and error, mostly! Alex will often say to me ‘what do you think that’ll taste like?’ when we get new beans in, and my answer is usually ‘No idea, let’s put it together and see!’ 

You always have a base, so our Colombian coffee is a really good one to blend with other coffees and you’ll find that at the base of a few of our blends. Each bean has different flavour notes, so we want to find ones that will work together – for example, something that might have apple tasting notes would go well with caramel tasting notes. Once we’ve considered that, we’ll just give it a try and if we like it, we’ll try it a few variations with different percentages of each bean at home – it’s usually a Saturday morning experiment for us – before we launch it. 

Our Flat Cap blend was the first one we created, and looking all over the internet, we couldn’t see anyone who was blending Colombian and Peruvian coffees together and then as soon as we put it out, there were blends like that popping up everywhere! 

Alex: We go out to both the big chains and independent shops in the area still to keep on top of the market and really get a feel for the latest trends, so we keep experimenting to see what’ll work best and we’re always excited to try something new. 

Which of your coffees would you recommend to a first-time buyer? 

Alex: I think to start with, I’d recommend something like our Colombian or our Flat Cap blend, especially if you’re used to picking up your ground coffee from the supermarket as these have your classic coffee flavours. 

Mark: If you like a darker roast or something with more of a fruity, floral taste, then please come and ask us for a recommendation! We love helping customers find their favourite beans – we even have a ‘Coffee Lovers’ gift set on the website, where we can pick the bags for you if you’re looking to try something new. 

What’s the best way of preparing coffee at home?

Alex: We’ve got a bean-to-cup machine at home which is effectively an easy-to-use espresso machine, so that’s my personal favourite. You can’t go wrong with a cafètiere though – they’re not expensive, and it’s really easy to adjust the strength to taste. 

Mark: I’d agree – you can capture loads of different flavours in a cafetière, and I really like the ritual to it. You slow down a little when you make it, and when you’ve got a really good coffee, you get a great bloom going – you only get that with freshly roasted coffee, you won’t see that with your supermarket blend. 

How can people get hold of your coffee?

Mark: We’d always recommend people order fresh from our website – we roast each bag of coffee to order, so you can be sure you’re getting the best quality coffee. However, if you’re out and about, you can buy bags of our coffee from the café at Langford Lakes or TJ Brews in Stockbridge. We’re always looking for more cafés who’d like to use our beans, too, so get in touch if you’d like to find out more! 

Find out more about The Flat Cap Coffee Roasting Co and their variety of coffees at https://www.flatcapcoffee.com/

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