Hi, Rise Coffee Drinkers!
I’m the person behind freda-coffee.live, and this December, I’ve had the pleasure of roasting your coffee.
If you’ve found your way here through your Rise subscription, welcome. It’s lovely to have you.
Being invited into someone’s morning coffee routine feels quite special, particularly when you run a little business on your own. So I thought I’d introduce myself properly, tell you a little about Freda and share the story behind the La Bolsa in your bag.
A little roastery with a family name
Freda is my independent speciality coffee roastery here in Sussex, named after my Nan.
She was a huge source of encouragement in my life, so when the roasting business needed a name of its own, hers felt right.
And when I say “my roastery”, it really is just me. I choose the coffees, roast them, pack orders and answer your questions. There’s quite a lot of coffee drinking involved too, although I’m fairly sure that counts as work.
I 'slot roast' with my friends at Horsham Coffee Roaster, meaning I rent their equipment and space, then pack and send orders from Worthing. It’s a small operation, built around something I still get very excited about: finding a lovely coffee and sharing it with other people.
From behind the bar to behind the roaster
My coffee story goes back much further than Freda.
I opened Bond Street Coffee in Brighton in 2014, and it’s still a huge part of my life. It’s also where you can drink the coffees I roast, made by our lovely team.
Having that connection is incredibly useful. I get to work with the coffee behind the bar, hear what customers think and take those conversations back to the next roast.
It keeps me thinking about the thing that matters most: how the coffee actually tastes when someone sits down to enjoy it.
If you’re ever in Brighton, come and find us at 15 Bond Street. We’d love to make you a coffee.
What I look for in a coffee
Freda is all about seasonal, single origin coffee.
I love that coffees taste different depending on where they were grown, who grew them and how they were processed. Those differences are what keep me interested, and they’re what I want you to taste.
There’s already an enormous amount of work in a coffee before it reaches my roaster. My part is to bring out its character, with plenty of sweetness and enough clarity for those individual flavours to shine through.
Meet your December coffee
For this month’s Rise feature, I’m sharing La Bolsa from Huehuetenango in Guatemala, produced by the Vides family.
It’s a coffee with a lovely balance of comforting sweetness and something a little more delicate. Think chocolate, raisin and plum, with a gentle, tea-like character when brewed as a pour over.
That combination is what I find so appealing. There’s plenty to notice if you want to slow down and explore the flavours, but it’s also simply a lovely cup of coffee to have alongside your breakfast.
I’m really pleased to be sharing it with you this December.
Put the kettle on
If you’d like a hand getting started, my coffee brew guides will walk you through some of my favourite ways to make coffee at home.
And if something isn’t tasting quite right, or you just want to tell me how you’re getting on with La Bolsa, please get in touch. It’ll be me at the other end.
Thank you for taking a moment to meet the person behind your coffee. I hope you enjoy drinking it as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it.
Chris
Founder and roaster, freda-coffee.live