Coffee At FED
Coffee is the lifeblood of any cafe business. It is a product so vitality important to our way of life as people. Here in the UK it is a daily ritual while overseas it is a source of income and acts as the foundation of the many communities that grow and live amongst it. We are really proud of the coffee we offer at FED. Sourced and roasted by the wonderful guys down at Yallah Coffee Roasters just outside of Falmouth whom we have worked with since the very start. A relationship built on genuine friendships, but also an unwavering commitment to provide a variety of coffees all year round that are sustainably sourced and of course, have exceptional quality.
Richard Blake, founder and CEO of Yallah - We’re a small crew, with a lot of love for exceptional coffee and the many hands that touch it. Coffee is our vehicle, and it’s taken us far and wide; forming long-term, meaningful relationships along the way. This includes origin partners and those closer to home, like Ross, Char and the whole crew at FED Cafes. From day one, before the first lease was signed we knew they would create a special place. We're incredibly proud to have been part of that journey. Nowadays, we source bespoke for FED, knowing our buying standards are aligned with theirs, makes things easy - we never need to compromise on quality, it's just a task of sourcing the best and most sustainable coffees we can find.
The real strength of Yallah lies simply in their morals. They hold the gold standard for ways of sourcing coffee sustainably (read more here) and have a contagiously positive outlook on life in general. They provide the teams at FED with regular training sessions, presentations and just general love which is everything and more you can want in a business partner.
In a world where it is difficult to know if the money you are spending is going to a good cause. We believe that If the story is told correctly and authentically, that people will choose to spend their money thoughtfully and with intention. Therefore, giving back to the people around the world who are working towards a sustainable future. Companies such as Yallah, and the producers of our coffee’s ARE those people and we are so privileged to work alongside them.
FED House Coffee & Our Plan….
This year we worked with Yallah to source and serve three bespoke coffees for our FED House Coffee. Two from Brazilian farmers, Adolfo Ferreira at Pico Mirante, Edison Carson at Sitio Gourita, and lastly the producers at Loma Fria in Nicaragua. These coffees alongside our Guest espresso and Filter Coffees have made up our Coffee Calendar for 2025.
These three producers are very special to us. If you have been to one of our cafes in the last few years you’ve almost certainly tasted for yourself how delicious their coffee is. We look for a flavour profile that is deep and rich, sweet and chocolatey, nutty notes of almonds or pecans, with a slight acidity of mandarin or cherries. Every single year these producers deliver. This consistency of quality and quantity, coupled with the story that Yallah so compellingly tells has recently led to a very important joint decision between café and roaster. We aim to buy our House Coffees from ONLY these three producers year on year from now on.
But why is this important?
Committing for the foreseeable future to sourcing something as important as coffee from the same set of producers is a real example of trust, belief and commitment and has many benefits. The farmer knows that if they produce a similar coffee in quality and taste profile each year that Yallah will always buy off them, giving them assured income and stability so they can invest and develop themselves with confidence. In turn we know as a cafe that each season we are in good hands and our coffee is going to taste amazing and will be grown with the utmost care placed on sustainability and traceability. Beyond this, the real thing that is enabled through this style of relationship is something more nuanced and rare. An opportunity to get to know the producers personally.
In 2025 we had the unique experience of sending a member of our FED team to visit one the producers of our coffee face to face. Our Head of Coffee joined Yallah and Cargo Coffee Importers on a trip to São Paulo, Brazil to visit Adolfo Ferreira at Pico Mirante. The purpose of the trip was to see how the farm ran, try some of next seasons potential coffee’s and eat and drink with the workers there.
The team meandered through the hundreds of rows of coffee plants, picking and trying fresh ripe cherries directly from the trees. Adolfo stopping every few minutes to talk and provide fascinating anecdotes on the history of the farm, particular plot or to shed light on the meticulous practises he uses to look after each of the many varieties of coffee growing there. They met the amazing people who work the land for Adolfo, so skilfully and relentlessly harvesting and sorting cherries ripe from unripe, hauling enormous bags across mountainous and sometimes almost vertical terrain. At the end of it all, being treated to some true Brazilian hospitality with a (ridiculously sized) churrasco, homemade cachaça and plenty more laughter. All in all, a invaluable experience with lessons and stories that can be brought home to the teams at FED.
For our Head of Coffee, this was a trip of a lifetime. The kind of trip that obviously gives a whole new appreciation for this amazing product that we all love, that can bring people together no matter where they are in the world. This is how we aim to source coffee’s in the future, with trip’s and connections like this becoming a very important and essential recurring practise.
