Coffee has always been a staple for me. In the morning, after dinner, in the afternoon….come to think of it I drink it all day, every day. Yet as a food item it’s not something I’ve delved into, which, I suppose, is shocking for something that contributes so fully to my daily intake. Whilst I’ve avoided the high street chains, I’ve accepted the coffee I’ve received, I’ve drunk instant and never asked for more. A visit to Pact Coffee in Bermondsey has changed all that.
A little about Pact itself first. It’s a start up based out of a trendy old biscuit factory in Bermondsey. On approaching the site the first thing that strikes you is the smell which is intoxicatingly of coffee. No wonder the creative juices for the growing team of 20 somethings are flowing so freely – all the caffeine in the air is enough to give anyone a buzz! In short, it’s a coffee subscription service. In full, it’s a little bit more.
It was founded by a chap called Stephen whose dream it was to bring high quality coffee to everybody easily. It’s more difficult than you think to get excellent coffee. Certainly you won’t be getting it from supermarkets or high street coffee shops. This makes sense if you think about it. Their prerogative is to supply large numbers of customers with a consistent, never changing product. Fair enough.
Coffee however is not a consistent bean. It is seasonal, thriving in different countries at different times of the year, and tasting different in each. Producing a skinny caramel frappacino-macca-lacca-ciano that tastes the same each time Aunt Bertie buys it on her way to the shops thus becomes a challenge. To get around this, the coffee is roasted to within an inch of its life, disguising its more individual flavours and producing an consistently intense, dark and some might say ‘burnt’ coffee. Consistency nailed, let’s talk about storage. It would never do for Aunt Bertie to rock up at fictional chain coffee shop ‘Squarebucks’ and find her precious strawberry coffee swirl (or other similarly ghastly concoction) out of stock. To get around this it is ground and preserved in packaging, allowing copious coffee to be transported and stored. Seems okay right? Not so. From the moment coffee is ground it deteriorates; oxygen getting to it and making it stale. Nespresso try and get round this by sealing their pods in nitrogen, but it’s still not ideal. Nay, excellent coffee at a minimum must be fresh and roasted to suit its characteristics (and I haven’t even touched on provenance!). The only places you’ll get this are speciality coffee shops and even they face the same problems of holding stock as the supermarkets, though to a lesser degree.
Coffee however is not a consistent bean. It is seasonal, thriving in different countries at different times of the year, and tasting different in each. Producing a skinny caramel frappacino-macca-lacca-ciano that tastes the same each time Aunt Bertie buys it on her way to the shops thus becomes a challenge. To get around this, the coffee is roasted to within an inch of its life, disguising its more individual flavours and producing an consistently intense, dark and some might say ‘burnt’ coffee. Consistency nailed, let’s talk about storage. It would never do for Aunt Bertie to rock up at fictional chain coffee shop ‘Squarebucks’ and find her precious strawberry coffee swirl (or other similarly ghastly concoction) out of stock. To get around this it is ground and preserved in packaging, allowing copious coffee to be transported and stored. Seems okay right? Not so. From the moment coffee is ground it deteriorates; oxygen getting to it and making it stale. Nespresso try and get round this by sealing their pods in nitrogen, but it’s still not ideal. Nay, excellent coffee at a minimum must be fresh and roasted to suit its characteristics (and I haven’t even touched on provenance!). The only places you’ll get this are speciality coffee shops and even they face the same problems of holding stock as the supermarkets, though to a lesser degree.
Pact get round this by bringing a technology driven and agile approach to coffee supply. You sign up online, specify what form of coffee you want through a handy online questionnaire (fine, medium or course ground/ beans, dependent on how you brew it – in a cafetiere, aeropress, espresso machine etc. etc. ), how often you’ll want it and bob’s your uncle – it arrives through your post box along with handy tips about how best to brew it. Apart from the growing, everything is done at their Bermondsey site giving them full control over the roasting and grinding process. Master of Coffee, Will, goes out to coffee growing regions such as Brazil and Columbia, following the seasons, to source new suppliers to form long term relationships with and to train to produce the best quality coffee possible. You’re told exactly where it is from on each packet, along with the dates it was ground and roasted, and even the signature of who did it!
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Technology asides and simply put; it’s the best coffee I’ve ever had and I’m making it myself. I’ve put my money where my mouth is and become a customer myself. One of the highlights of my fortnight is receiving one of their brown cardboard envelopes, ripping it open and sticking my face in to take a big whiff of that deep, rich fresh coffee nose. The experience of scent does not get much more intense than that. At £6.95 per pack (18 cups) it’s well worth it. Truly, utterly and thoroughly recommended.
The Pact guys have offered my readers a cheeky discount. Use the code FOODGOBLIN to get your first pack for only £1!
