The Brewhouse Project is a joint crowdfunded venture between Edgcumbes Coffee and Arundel Brewery.
Should they raise the funds they wish to create a café, roastery and brewery located on a site outside Arundel serving and selling craft beer and freshly roasted speciality coffee.
It will be possible to drink a coffee and smell the beans being roasted, drink a beer and see it being brewed.
It is hoped to have a food truck at weekends and evenings.
Edgcumbes Coffee is a coffee roaster and tea blender located in a barn middle of nowhere somewhere outside Arundel.
I had tried their coffee, cold brew and a cappuccino off their coffee truck at Draper’s Yard in Chichester. To say the least neither was very good. I was also less than impressed not possible to pay cash.
I decided to pay them a visit. They are not in Arundel, the nearest station Ford, then a trek along country lanes with a risk of being run down.
To get from Chichester where I had lunch at St Martins Coffee House (excellent lunch but awful coffee), it necessitated a change of trains to get to Ford.
Alighting at Ford, I found myself in the middle of nowhere. Walking along the country lanes on a very hot day, I questioned why was doing this, especially as no idea would find them open.
Eventually I located the barn, half a dozen people sat outside in a courtyard, I assumed drinking coffee, though could have been tea.
If people were willing to visit middle of nowhere for a tea or coffee, then must be worth it.
A large barn one side of the courtyard which housed the roasting operation, on the other side a coffee shop, The Edge Cafe.
I was greeted by a very helpful young man, with which I had an interesting conversation long after they had closed.
He made me a cold brew and a cappuccino. Both were far superior than I had had off their coffee truck in Chichester, good but not as good as Coffee Lab.
I questioned why brew the cold brew for 72 hours, to then water down?
I would have liked to have tried one of their single origins as V60, but the filter papers could not be located.
V60 is a must, maybe also Chemex and Japanese syphon if to showcase their single origin coffee.
I suggested they have a stall on the local farmers market in Chichester, first and second Friday of the month. There is a stall from a local coffee roastery The Crafted Coffee Company, but I was not impressed, coffee beans in the midday sun, the woman manning the stall singularly unhelpful.
If they do obtain a pitch, then use their coffee truck. It will be absence from Draper’s Yard twice a month, but will help publicise Draper’s Yard and help all the excellent indie businesses located there. It is absolutely essential a skilled barista and someone who knows their beans manning the stall and the van if they wish to showcase their coffee in Chichester.
A quick look at their roastery.
I came away with bags of beans, a sample of tea, and at £7 a very expensive bar of chocolate.
The chocolate I tried when I arrived home. Excellent, but then had to be at £7 a bar.
The beans, a lovely aroma. Four bags of beans neatly fits inside one of their paper carrier bags.
I learnt of The Brewhouse Project, a joint crowdfunded project with Arundel Brewery.
Chichester an old Roman town has sadly been ruined by corporate chains interspersed with greasy spoons cafes masquerading as tea rooms and coffee shops.
Wandering down East Street and beyond I happened upon Draper’s Yard, a little oasis of independent businesses. It was here that I found Edge, an old Citroen van serving Edgcumbes coffee.
Did they have cold brew? Yes, but seems perverse to make with espresso blend not high quality single origin coffee.
I thought I had misheard when told brewed for 72 hours. It must be so over extracted as to be undrinkable. Brewed in a jug. I asked could I try.
The young guy put an ice cube in a plastic cup. Plastic! Poured in a small amount of the cold brew. Very dark to the point of being opaque. I thought this was for me to sample, it did not even cover the ice cube. No, it is concentrate, as it was snatched from me. He then topped up with lukewarm tap water. At least I assumed tap water. As a van, maybe not.
To say the least, it was undrinkable. It was like coffee that had been left to go cold, then watered down.
I asked for a cappuccino. It was not good either.
Coffee beans on display were high Q grade, 85 plus, and Ethiopian was 90. And surprisingly cheap, £6 a 250g bag.
I picked up a bag of Ethiopian. £8-50 including the cappuccino. I handed over a tenner. Sorry, we do not take cash.
I have never ever come across anywhere that does not take cash. I may be wrong, and stand corrected if wrong, but I believe it is illegal to refuse to take coin of the realm, legal tender. And the reason why? Inconvenient for them.
But as neither the cold brew nor cappuccino were good, maybe I was fortunate.
What is not good, when we are all focused on reducing waste especially plastic, Edgcumbe launch a van serving takeaway coffee exacerbating the problem. There were on sale reusable cups but that does not solve the underlying problem, it addresses the symptoms. The only way is to relax with speciality coffee served in glass or ceramic. Although there were seats, only takeaway cups.
The plastic in which my cold brew served not compostable, the coffee cup yes. The coffee cup to be added to the compost heap.
When my coffee experience not good I wonder, am I losing my sense of taste. Then I have a good coffee, and I realise no, I was served bad coffee.
Later I visited Coffee Lab. A world of difference, excellent cold brew and cappuccino.
Note: A week later I visited Edgcumbes Coffee outside Arundel. And what a difference, excellent coffee, knowledgeable staff.
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