I often rave about delightful journeys down leafy lanes to access great producers hidden away in Surrey, but this month is different. To get to Redber Coffee Roastery it’s a six minute drive from my house near Stoke Park in Guildford. Arriving at a trading estate next to the railway, it’s a complete surprise to find a thriving independent coffee business. Of course, once inside, all makes complete sense, as the premises combine a warehouse, roaster, packing and retail unit all housed under one roof.

On entering Redber, there is a seating area in front of a counter where coffee can be ordered, chosen from any of the current range roasted that day. Have a chat first about the style of coffee preferred and nothing is too much trouble to match drinking preferences with a final brew. Beyond the counter where drinks are dispatched lay sacks of open green beans ready for roasting with four coffee roasters, including the first two kilo machine in which this start-up business invested five years ago.

Founders Graham and Petra had a strong interest in coffee and after completing a coffee roasting course in Scotland, they decided to start their own business. With just one two kilo capacity machine, they honed their craft in a cold, reclaimed shed in their first site in 2012. Perfecting their skills, Graham and Petra began to sell coffee online and direct to informed customers. Their growing list of single origin coffees was, it seemed, of interest to many looking for delicious coffee which hadn’t lost its identity in commercial style processing. Large roasters provide huge quantities of beans to retailers by blending and subjecting them to a single roasting recipe. The resulting coffee lacks personality and is often quite bland plus, as a money saving exercise, a smaller weight dose is used for each drink. Smaller companies such as Redber avoid this and provide a customised roast for each new bean, complementing its unique flavour profile rather than damaging it.

Today the business in its larger unit is buzzing with the old site updated and used as a storeroom. Currently Redber has several strands which all fund the growing team of ten members of staff and the bigger home. First there is the retail side which features sales direct to consumers who can call in, have a coffee and buy beans whole or ground, or purchase online. Roasting beans to order for the online business means there will always be a few kilos available for drop in sales (highly recommended) and perfect if, like me, you live close by. It’s Redber’s policy in terms of quality that
beans are dispatched to customers on the day of roasting offering a good month of life. After this quality starts to decline. I was told quite clearly that freezing or refrigerating beans is not a good idea as it causes condensation, which damages the coffee. Storage should take place in an airtight tin in a cool dry location.

For retail customers, coffee subscriptions are also a popular buy. There are various options for this and they make the perfect gift for Christmas, birthdays and other events. I bought my significant other a ‘Surprise Me’ subscription for part of his Christmas offering. He loves the fact that it continues for 12 months and that every month a pack of carefully sourced and roasted beans arrive in the mail. We have tried an astonishing range of coffees from Redber so far that we wouldn’t have had the knowledge to choose ourselves, or indeed access to if we had stuck to supermarket offerings. Other subscriptions include choosing coffee by origin or blend and by roast profile. Going away? Pause or change the frequency of delivery. This flexibility isn’t found with other similar services, so it’s a great selling point.

For those new to fresh coffee brewing at home, Redber has a comprehensive range of coffee makers, on which they will happily guide. To complement the makers, grinders, storage canisters and filters are also on offer. In addition, Redber runs tasting and cupping courses: a great introduction to the fine art of coffee and an insight into how coffee is tasted and graded by buyers before purchase. Importantly, as the taste of coffee varies so much between plantations, geographical locations, altitude, levels of light and shade, it helps set the price at which coffee will sell.

For commercial customers there are a variety of options too. Larger bag sizes, bean to cup machines, maintenance products and expertise and advice. It’s clear from its small beginning that this company has slowly grown to be a major provider of quality coffee in the area. There are other roasters in Surrey too and even more online, so they have to stay competitive to survive. This Redber seems to do well: its ethos of roasting, packing and despatching in one day is admirable and gives the company a unique selling point.

Fresh coffee spice rub for pork ribs and chicken

Fresh ground coffee is popular in spice rubs and chilli dishes in the southern states of America. When my last pack of coffee (Sumatra Lintong) arrived from Redber, it was described as being sweet with a medium body, low acidity and notes of dark chocolate, so I decided to rework an old favourite. Here is my version of this classic with a more contemporary take on the ingredients. I have used baby back pork ribs, slow cooked in the oven for a couple of hours. Served with chunky coleslaw and baked potatoes, it’s a perfect weekend dish.

Ingredients
For the rub
Two tablespoons freshly fine ground coffee
Two tablespoons fine ground Himalayan pink salt
Two tablespoons sweet (dulche) smoked Spanish paprika
One tablespoon Ancho chilli powder
One tablespoon coconut sugar
One teaspoon dried oregano
One teaspoon onion powder
One teaspoon ground black pepper

For the meat
Four racks baby back spare ribs

Method
• Mix together the coffee, salt, paprika, chilli powder, coconut sugar, oregano, onion powder and black pepper in a bowl to make the rub.
• Coat each rack with the rub, massaging it into the meat. Wrap the ribs in foil and store in the refrigerator overnight to let the flavour develop.
• Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/350°F/180°C/Fan 160°C.
• Place the pork ribs on a large baking tray and lay flat. Drizzle a little oil on each and place in the oven for one and a half to two hours, or until the meat is falling off the bones.
• Serve with the natural gravy that forms in the tray. For pulled pork sliders, just pull the meat off the bones with a fork.
• Delicious served with a barbecue sauce.

Shirlee Posner, www.eatsurrey.co.uk

Redber is a welcoming enterprise that clearly loves coffee and it’s really intriguing to see beans from so many different countries all under one roof. Our last bag was a Brazil Santos described as being full bodied, sweet with low acidity with a smooth finish. Coming from the lighter range of roasts (our preference), it delivered on all counts. But on my last visit to Redber, I could also see coffee from Panama, Sumatra, Colombia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Talia, who was showing me around, commented on the Redber commitment to work with charities associated with coffee too, particularly Ugandan Bukonzo.

It turns out that a local charity based in Shalford, just outside Guildford, was looking for a local roaster. Getting in touch in 2013, Alison, the founder, was looking for a company to roast Ugandan Bukonzo coffee beans. Her charity ‘Seeds for Development’ helps farmers plant coffee on shared land. Each farmer has half an acre on which to grow coffee and a starter pack of 100 coffee seedlings. The project has already achieved some of its founding aims by building a school and toilet block for farmers’ children. The children have meals cooked for them on site and the school has 320 pupils and six teachers. Redber is proud to have been involved with this project by giving a proportion of the sale price of each bag of Ugandan Bukonzo coffee to the charity.

Redber is a friendly, coffee loving business with real expertise in delivery of a fantastic end product. Go for a first visit to be offered a 125g bag to take home and sample: it’s impossible not to go back for more. The company offers an attractive way to buy coffee as its open kitchen-style presentation and intoxicating aroma of freshly roasted bean activity provides the perfect backdrop to savouring a fresh brew. My blog is all about independents and this is a perfect example of one that has all the elements right. Go and see for yourself, it’s worth the trip.

Shirlee Posner

essence info

Merrow Depot, Merrow Lane, Guildford, Surrey GU4 7BQ
Websites: www.redber.co.uk and www.eatsurrey.co.uk

Shirlee Posner is a food writer and blogger at www.eatsurrey.co.uk and provides social media management, web copywriting and food photography.