G!RO // Pete's Coffee Blog // Part 3

January 14, 2015

My post-G!ro time saw me travel to Sierra Leone to lead a group of British and Sierra Leonian volunteers as part of the ICS programme. Working in Freetown's slums with at-risk youth, sex workers and the unemployed, the work was challenging but rewarding, and in many areas did indeed lead to positive, sustainable changes  //   Which is all well and good, but what does this have to do with coffee, I hear you ask. Sierra Leone has long grown and exported coffee, never in any great volume, or to much acclaim. Post civil-war, there have been great efforts to make the production ethical and beneficial, with examples such as this clearly pointing to a positive future for those in the eastern, coffee production areas, which were most devastated by the war. However, this has not lead to a domestic market for the stuff, with coffee in Sierra Leone, if you can find it at all, guaranteed to be a weak cup of Nescafe, lots of sugar, and powdered milk. Despite the large Lebanese community (and NGO workers), tea, or the plentiful cheap beer are far more popular.

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G!RO // Pete's Coffee Blog // Part 2

February 24, 2014

All of our coffee comes from Woking, with its world famous plantations, producing the best coffee on its sun drenched slopes. Only some of that sentence is true of course, but our coffee does come via Woking, with everything we serve at Giro having been roasted by Edward at Beanberry. Small batch roasting and speedy delivery ensures optimum freshness and that means better coffee for you guys.

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G!RO // Pete's Coffee Blog // Part 1

February 24, 2014



Welcome to a brief two part look at the international coffee industry, which will hopefully prove interesting!

Part one is concerned with a general introduction to coffee production and distribution, as well as a look at the UK’s coffee drinking habits. In part two, Jordan (Giro co-owner) and Edward (our local roaster) will explain more about the coffee we serve at Giro, and what we are doing to help alleviate some of the environmental and social issues associated with the production of coffee. The aim for this series is to not simply be a thinly veiled infomercial for how amazing our coffee is, but rather a genuine look at the processes that are involved, and the avenues open to smaller, independent roasters and coffee houses.

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