It's roasters like Joe Syme of Campbell & Syme that have one main focus in mind to serve speciality coffee roasted to bring out its best qualities.
Campbell & Syme was founded in 2012 by Joe Syme, selling quality coffee at small farmers markets. He knew how diverse and complex coffee could be, and inspired by the burgeoning coffee scene in East London and the thriving roasteries in Portland, Oregon, dove head-first into the industry.
Joe Syme believes that in everything they do, there is collective effort. One of their greatest values is that they share and learn together, all the way from farm to cup. They believe in constantly being open to learn from everyone involved: from the smallholder farmers, producers, co-operatives, exporters, traders, quality controllers, roasters, and baristas, to you, the coffee drinker.
One thing that the team over at Campbell & Syme loves about the industry is being able to discover the perfect roast profile for a coffee and learning how to keep it consistent. There are many things that can affect a roast - in Britain, one of the greatest obstacles is weather changes - so keeping it consistent is incredibly important. Of course, they also love being able to drink great coffee all the time!
When it comes to deciding on a favourite coffee origin, Joe finds it difficult to choose. Washed Ethiopians are his favourite - they are known for being complex, floral, and unique. However, he believes that it is also very important to always try new and exciting origins.
When Campbell & Syme first started, they had to turn their cafe into their temporary roastery space, which was both beautiful and insane'. Thankfully, now they have a dedicated roastery over in Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, relatively close to their coffee shop in north London. They currently roast 3-4 days a week, leaving a day for quality control and maintenance.
They now roast on a Giesen 15kg and Diedrich 12kg, which gives them the flexibility that big roasts require. Generally, the Giesen wields a bolder cup and the Diedrich produces very clean and complex cups. It's a great change from the small and unreliable 2kg roaster they started with!
The team over at Campbell & Syme is deeply passionate about doing their part for the environment; they are aware that as a growing business, they have a growing environmental and social responsibility. Because of this, they support the nonprofit organisation 1% for the Planet' by giving them 1% of their yearly sales. They have also teamed up with One Tree Planted' so that they can offset their emissions and help re-grow forest lands. To date, they have planted 644 trees in Ethiopia and 980 trees in the Andes.
Along with this, they recycle their waste coffee grounds, reducing these emissions by 80%.
When not roasting coffee, Joe and the team loves visiting new pastures and exploring different coffee and food scenes. His favourite coffee town is Copenhagen, with Coffee Colective being his go-to for a quick brew. He loves the feeling of being about to walk around a new city and simply see where it leads - and has found many good coffee shops that way!
Within the next 12 months, Campbell & Syme will be opening a second coffee shop. They hope to connect to even more people and serve them exceptional coffee, educating consumers and learning from them at the same time.
Joe states that even though a lot has changed since their origin, their key values have stayed the same.
We roast wonderful coffees grown by superstar farmers, we smile at our customers (lots of them became friends over the years) and we appreciate the opportunity to do what we love.'
For more information about Campbell & Syme, be sure and visit their website, Facebook page, or Instagram.
To find more top craft coffee roasters that we have featured here at Blue Coffee Box, click here.
