The Heart of Wargrave
As a local family, Sarah and Nick have found it sad to the demise of Wargrave High Street from 16 shops to 6 today. Wargrave has a uniquely close knit community and it is a truly great place to live / work / relax / bring up families and of course to enjoy the wonderful River Thames.
We truly believe that the future of the high street lies in the past. This is now even clearer following the pandemic and we hope that communities will support local businesses in this new normal.
H’ARTISAN’s aim is to create a familiar and happy space for the Wargrave community, where people can feel at home to spend time, relax, enjoy each other’s company whilst creating and sharing memories. Everyone will be welcome including families, ramblers, cyclists, networkers, local groups, homeworkers and dogs. Muddy boots, paws and wheels are all welcome!
We have chosen our suppliers with great care – sustainability and ethical standards at the core to bring our customers the highest quality of food and drink. Where able we have of course chosen “local”.
H’ARTISAN will offer speciality coffee from Colonna – a unique roastery whose owner is a 3x UK Barista Champion and world Barista finalist, a variety of traditional and more exotic teas from Canton whose founder started her career with Anita Roddick, nourishing and nutritious breakfast and lunch options……… and of course a delicious selection of cakes and pastries.
H’ARTISAN is looking forward to serving customers and working in close collaboration with the existing retailers and occupiers of Wargrave High Street to help create a greater sense of place for the community.
“Artisan”
A person skilled in a utilitarian art, trade, or craft, that makes high quality or distinctive products in small quantities usually by hand or using traditional methods
Our Partners
Colonna Coffee – The story
Colonna coffee is an artisan roaster from Bath, founded by the husband and wife duo behind Colonna & Smalls Maxwell and Lesley. Maxwell is a 3 x UK Barista Champion and made it to three consecutive World Barista Championship finals. Maxwell is a true innovator in the UK coffee industry. Lesley has been a driving force in their success. As a small batch roaster they are carefully selecting and roasting outstanding coffees from all over the world.
H’ARTISAN’s chosen espresso bean is a bespoke cycling-inspired single origin by Colonna, which was originally created for Rapha. Cycling is a huge part of our local community and so it was only natural that we would choose the cyclists coffee of choice.
Finca La Colombia – The story
Best of all H’ARTISAN will be offering the same coffee experience as you would receive in a Rapha Clubhouse.
H’ARTISAN will be serving Finca La Colombia which lies within Colombia’s famous Antioquia Department, an area famous for spectacular coffees and equally spectacular cycling. This classically sweet, zingy Caturra and Colombia cultivar washed lot is a wonderful example of the incredible coffee produced in the region.
Managed by Gonzalo, consistency and quality across every element of production is higher than ever before. Through close work with the importer’s partner better access has been created to the region, seeing a welcome increase in income and sales for the farm and surrounding producers.
Canton Speciality Tea – The story
Canton is a proudly independent, British tea company, founded in 2007 by Jennifer Wood. Canton were amongst the pioneers of the speciality tea industry in the UK and they continue to be leaders in quality and innovation.
Since the beginning Canton has sourced the world’s finest teas and herbals from small, family-run farms and co-operatives. They buy direct from the gardens to ensure they know the provenance of every high-grade leaf and that the farmers and their workers are getting paid the best possible price for their craft.
Canton work with some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the UK including The Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park London, Bvlgari Hotel London, Soho House and Pollen Street Social – the Michelin star, 5 AA Rosettes restaurant by Jason Atherton.
Canton are members of the ‘Ethical Tea Partnership’ and the ‘Sustainable Restaurant Association’. Many of the farms that they source their teas are organic and rainforest alliance certified.
Brades Milk – The story
Brades have farmed for three generations. Brades single source Jersey and Holstein milk is the perfect milk for coffee and latte art. Jersey milk is not only nutritionally more beneficial but Jersey cow milk is packed with higher levels of protein and butterfat.
A combination milk containing both variants of class a1 and a2 proteins (beta-casein) is considered a healthier choice due to how it is broken down and digested. Brades have worked with leading coffee consultants to perfect the art of protein and its role in the frothing of milk. Brades non homogenised Original Barista Milk consists of 3.6% protein, which gives dependable consistency for beautiful latte art.
The sweetness in milk comes from the butterfat, but the national average butterfat in UK milk is just 3.9%. Brades found the flavour of coffee could be improved considerably by upping the butterfat content of the milk.
Brades Jerseys can produce milk with as high as 6% butterfat, but milk this sweet can overpower the senses, and so, after many iterations, they found their sweet spot at 4.5% butterfat. It’s the perfect balance of sweetness and flavour.
Kokoa Collection – The story
Kokoa Collection is the Gold award winning hot chocolate company founded by Paul Eagles with expertise and knowledge of the coffee industry and a member of the ‘Academy of Chocolate’. Kokoa specialise in quality single origin hot chocolates.
They source the best cocoa beans from around the world.
Kokoa’s Sao Tome 58% chocolate flakes are from the Dominican Republic; an ideal territory in the Caribbean Islands with natural climate, soil and cocoa growing history.
Fairtrade terms provide farmers with a better deal which allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future.
On top of a minimum price farmer organisations receive a Fairtrade Premium which they invest in projects of their choice. Many farmers have used the Premium to improve their businesses and production, replacing old trees and investing in better facilities for crop collection, storage and transport.
