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25-10-23

Recipe - Ted's Clarified Coffee Cocktails - #2 : ‘Pumpkin Spice Latte’

If you were at Notts Coffee Festival, chances are you tried one of our coffee cocktails! 

Each one uses some kind of clarified milk - This is a process which involves curdling and then straining out the milk solids. The clarified milk adds a smooth and rounded sweetness to the finished cocktail.

This one's a twist on an autumnal classic - The Pumpkin Spice Latte...

18-10-23

The Truth About Fresh Coffee

We’ve all heard people say that freshly ground coffee is better than buying it pre-ground. What about freshly roasted coffee? Is it best to drink coffee just a day or a week from the roast date? Does the idea of grinding fresh create a misconception that coffee must be used as close to the roast date? As it is ‘freshly roasted’? Well, we’re going to explore this idea of freshness, the science and research it has to offer us and how we can drink our coffee at its flavour peak.

12-01-23

What on Earth is ‘Carbonic Maceration’? A Handy Guide to Coffee Processing….

You’ve probably seen us use the phrases ‘washed process’ and ‘natural process’. You might have even come across phrases like ‘honey-process’, ‘macerated’ or ‘anaerobic fermentation’...

But what does all this confusing coffee jargon mean? And how can you use these words and labels to help you pick coffee that’s right for you?

27-10-22

Recipe - Ted's Clarified Coffee Cocktails - #1 : Vodka + Odo Shakiso Coffee Sour

If you were at Notts Coffee Festival, chances are you tried one of our coffee cocktails! 

Each one uses some kind of clarified milk - This is a process which involves curdling and then straining out the milk solids. The clarified milk adds a smooth and rounded sweetness to the finished cocktail.

The cocktail mix is poured through used coffee grounds, to infuse the cocktail with its flavour. After that, the sugar syrup is added and voila! You get a deliciously smooth and sweet coffee cocktail, with lovely fresh citrus acidity.

This recipe, for Cocktail #1, is gluten-free and vegan and can be easily modified.

28-07-22

A Guide to The Best Coffee Blogs, Podcasts, YouTubers and More...

Welcome to our brand new library of coffee resources!  This list will be updated regularly, with all our favourite coffee-focused websites, must-read coffee blogs, youtube channels, podcasts and books, so that it can become a hub of information for everyone.We want to make specialty coffee more accessible and we believe that information is there to be shared - Even collaborating on this list, each of us found out about something we hadn’t heard of before! (Got your own recommendations? Drop us an email here)  We hope that whatever area of coffee you’re curious about, there’ll be something on this list that gets you...

14-07-22

Interviewing Ted - Visiting Brazil 2022

About a month ago, our head roaster Ted got back from a week-long trip to Brazil organised by Kamba Coffee, one of the importers we work closely with to source coffee. Led by Bruna from Kamba, Ted joined 8 other roasters and coffee professionals from the UK and Europe travelling across the state of São Paulo visiting coffee farms and dry mills. We sat down with Ted to find out more about his trip… Helena: Hey Ted! So I wanted to start by asking you what someone can typically expect from Brazilian coffee, in terms of a flavour profile? Ted:...

19-05-22

Fermentation, Geishas and Blends - UK Coffee Championships 2022

Last Saturday was a big one for the UK coffee industry! The final rounds for the UK Barista Championships and UK Brewer’s Cup Championships culminated in wins for Claire Wallace of Assembly Coffee and Sierra Yeo of Alpro Barista. Two female powerhouses and all-around amazing people — we’re big fans here at Cartwheel! These competitions are true highlights of the UK Coffee calendar — competitors prepare and perfect their routines for months in advance — and the UK winners of both comps will be going on to represent the UK at the World Championships in Melbourne this September.   Claire...

12-05-22

Cartwheel Coffee Origins

Read about the origins of Cartwheel Coffee, from inspiration to completion. Learn about the story of our owner Alex, how he created an innovative coffee brand and eventually expanded into his mum’s original business premises.

19-04-22

Sustainability at Cartwheel

Read about Cartwheel’s Sustainability Promise, what we’re doing currently in terms of our sustainability, and what we plan to do. Learn about how we’re reducing plastic waste, using electric vehicles and recycling our food and coffee byproducts!

24-03-22

Grind Size Matters

Have you ever given much thought to your grind setting? Or maybe you order your coffee from us pre-ground for your preferred brew method? Knowing your coffee grounds is the baseline for great coffee.  In this blog, we’re going to talk about the difference between burrs and blades, under and over extraction, and coarse or fine grounds. Whether you’re using a Kalita or an espresso machine, by the end of this blog you should know your grinds, of coarse! Burrs or Blades You might have heard of one of these terms more often than the other, and that’s because most...

10-03-22

Traceability: Coffee Sourcing

Coffee sourcing is where coffee traceability begins for Cartwheel.  We’ve built integral relationships with importers, and even sourced directly from origin in our sourcing trips. It is important to us to ensure that we know the quality of the coffee we are buying, and where it has come from.  In this blog, I will break down some of the key processes we undertake at Cartwheel when it comes to sourcing our coffee, how this has developed over time, and why this makes us stand apart from commercial coffee.   Sourcing Partnerships At Cartwheel, we rely on partnerships with importers. These...

24-02-22

Easy Brew Hacks Worth Remembering

“Pre-wash your coffee filter” Whether you like to use a V60 or Kalita brewer, the use of filter papers is undeniably simple. They make for an easy clean up and a consistent brew, with a little bit of practice. But even the best of us forget the simplest tips to refine your brew. Pre-washing your filter paper with hot water is a great practice when using this equipment. Initially, this will help to eliminate any of that papery taste that could leave a trace in your final drink. And the second benefit is that your equipment will be preheated for...

17-02-22

Traceability: An Introduction

We go on about traceability quite a lot. It’s one of the main points that we emphasise about our coffee, and we have a small section on the back of all our tasting cards dedicated to it. But what does it mean and why is it so important to us? In coffee, traceability is quite simply the ability to trace where and when the product was produced and by whom. Often it means that other important information is captured and is available such as prices paid to producers, the locations of mills, dates of harvesting and other processes leading up...

10-02-22

Understanding Coffee: Deciphering Tasting Notes

When we launched our rebrand back in November 2021, you may have seen our highlight post explaining our tasting cards. These cards come clipped to every bag of coffee you buy and are served alongside every pourover in our café.  The intention is to invite you, our customer, into an honest and informative discourse about the coffee that you are drinking. Some of the information that we will provide to you includes the origins of the coffee, the way it was processed, and its traceability. We’re really passionate about providing you with all the information, from the names of our...

04-02-22

Coffee Pods vs Home Brewing

In this blog, I want to weigh up some of the reasons that we prefer to use fresh, whole-bean coffee in the café and in our home brewing set-ups – looking at the implications of cost, taste, ease and expertise needed to perfect each method. Many companies have attempted to condense the bespoke coffee shop experience into the commonly known coffee pod. These pods, typically made entirely from plastic – or aluminium lined with plastic – are not yet at home recyclable. Most pods need to be sent to specialist recycling centres with some companies offering pickup services to customers....

27-01-22

5 New Years Resolutions You Don’t Have to Break

A recent UK study found that 64% of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions before the end of January. With ‘Quitters Day’ being just the 12th of January, it’s clear to see that our set resolutions are often too difficult or too tedious to uphold.  Another reason that resolutions are hard to stick to is how vague we make them: get fit, eat more healthily, sleep better; these are all popular resolutions that have no clear, final goal or route to reach them. However, some resolutions are hard to follow because they can become inconvenient. Using less plastic, eating less...

21-01-22

Recycling Your Cartwheel Coffee Bags

Recycling isn’t a new trend, but you might be surprised to hear that the Household Waste Recycling Act was only approved in 2003! This law required local councils in England to provide every household with a separate collection of at least two types of recyclable materials by 2010. Even so, up to 15% of mixed, dry recycling could be contaminated with non-recyclable plastics.  We have worked hard behind the scenes to design and manufacture a coffee bag that is fully recyclable – and we are still in the minority of roasters able to claim this! Whether it’s our tasting cards...

13-01-22

An (Almost) Comprehensive Guide to Coffee Jargon

Specialty coffee is sometimes thought to serve only an elitist community of coffee drinkers, inherently excluding those less knowledgeable about coffee from the conversation. Here at Cartwheel, we believe that everyone should be involved in the conversation and have the opportunity to try and buy specialty coffee. That’s why we’re releasing this (almost) comprehensive list of coffee terminology in order to help give you a leg up in your next coffee chat, to prove that specialty coffee really is available for everyone! A AA – A coffee grading term that refers to a specific, larger than normal, bean size. Acidity...

06-01-22

Save, Store and Reuse Your Excess Coffee

If you’re anything like us, you’ll have an impractical amount of coffee left over from the Christmas break. Whether it’s from gifts, personal treats, or that very specific blend that only one person in your house drinks… Often there’s just too much for one person to get through, and most of that good coffee goes bad or ends up in the bin. Well, we’re here to save your New Year, and offer a list of practical uses for your fresh coffee. Whether it’s your whole beans, ground coffee, or spent grinds – we’ll help you reduce waste and save you...

23-12-21

Reflecting on 2021

A look back at the last year…    Any recap of 2021 would be remiss to mention the fallout experienced by businesses due to the ongoing pandemic. January is already a bleak time of year for many businesses. With Christmas out of the way and New Year resolutions to spend less, eat less and exercise more, this reality is normally compounded with short daylight hours and gloomy weather to create what are typically the 2 quietest and hardest months of the year for the hospitality industry.    So at this point last year, we were faced with all this as...