FAQs
Where did the name Harmony come from?
Believe it or not, the name Harmony actually originated from an inside joke.
In the coffee competition realm, at the UK Barista Championships, there used to be a section of the scoresheet called: "Harmonious Balance" which was a reference to how well the milk integrated with the espresso. One time while training somebody else for the competition, I asked the consultant (who used to be a competition judge) how 'Harmonious balance' was evaluated and the judge very confidently replied: Honestly, I have no idea. It's been a joke ever since.
Originally we wanted to call our Roastery 'Harmonious', but we felt like 'Harmonious' sounded a little pretentious.
What is your logo?
It's actually all of the overlapping parts of a Venn diagram. When I was first conceptualising the logo with my friend and stunning graphic designer Eloise Taylor, we were trying to express the word 'Harmony' in image form. Originally there were three pillars 'Ethics, Quality and Transparency', which were each represented by a circle, and Harmony was supposed to be represented as the point at which these circles overlapped.
But later, we realised how important strong partnerships were going to be to our foundations - but Venn diagrams look kinda naff when there are four points of intersection, so we just kept the original logo the way it was.
How do you decide which coffees you want to offer?
I always make a point of cupping all of my samples blind. As much as Harmony is about delivering experiences to others, it's also about delivering those experiences to myself as well. It can be easy to take coffees like a Catimor (which has a reputation for bad aftertaste) and make up your mind about it before you cup them, or to wish for that a Gesha would be better than how you're tasting it. By tasting blind, I'm focused on the present, rather than what my preconceptions might be.
Ultimately, in terms of selection process buy the coffees that I really like and worry about the rest of it later. I work to a brief of course, to help me stay on track, but when I'm buying coffees, I think about my own enjoyment first - the coffees I usually like, others tend to as well, so I must be doing something right!
Is Harmony an independent?
Yep! We're completely independent. The company has one shareholder. No investors, donors or moneymen. We do what we do because we love it, not because there is somebody with a clipboard telling us what to do.
Do you offer wholesale?
We sure do! Check out the link here for our wholesale page. That will take you to our online orderspace portal, where you can create an account.
How can I stay updated whenever you release a new coffee?
Navigate to the bottom of the page to subscribe to our mailing list (Recommended!) or follow us on Instagram.
What is your roast style?
Our roast style is definitely on the lighter side, as we buy really high quality green, and try to preserve as much of the original flavour of the coffee as we can.
While we recognise wholeheartedly that everybody has their own taste preferences, we just don't enjoy Roastiness or other Roast related flavours.
Do you roast for espresso or filter?
Both!
In our roasting philosophy, we roast the coffee until we think it tastes best. For some coffees, that's a little bit lighter, for others, that's with a little more development. But all of our coffees should be suitable for espresso and filter brewing.
Will you ever offer a Dark Roast?
We have no plans to offer a Dark Roast. There are plenty of amazing roasters who offer this, and it's just not something we can claim with any honesty to enjoy ourselves. To stay true to ourselves, we just wouldn't feel comfortable selling anything that we don't personally like.
What recipe do you recommend?
We will be offering Brew guides eventually.
The short answer is:
Filter (washed) 15g coffee - 250g water in 3 minutes
Filter (naturals) 16g coffee - 250g water in 3 minutes
Espresso (washed) 18g coffee - 44g yield - 27-30s
Espresso (naturals) 18g coffee - 42g yield - 27-30s
The long answer is that everybody's setup is different. A recipe that I recommend and love may not work for you for a number of reasons.
How long should I rest my coffee?
I understand that you may want to just crack it open and get brewing. If you can wait until day 10 before you open the bag, you'll have a much better time...
But if you want to maximise the flavour potential from the coffee?
Day 21-35 post roast will sort you out. We have had a few coffees that are super duper dense that benefit from even more rest, but generally speaking 3-5 weeks after roasting is where you'll see the highest quality flavours.
This is a bit of a blanket rule for our coffees, and won't necessarily guarantee good results from other roasters.
Will you ever open a shop?
Yep! Eventually.
Can I visit the roastery?
At the current time, we're not able to accept any visitors. But in the future, we hope to move to a public facing space, serve customers and offer tours, trainings and other classes.
Omwani
Our wonderful sourcing partners specialising in East African coffee sourcing from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya.
Omwani have been with us since the word go, and it's always a privilege to work with them. Most recently, we sourced the incredible Basha Bekele from them.
Coffee Cargo
Our wonderful Brazilian coffee partners, focusing on sourcing exceptional Brazilian Coffees.
Phil and the team at Cargo coffee have supplied us with incredible Brazilian coffee from some of the world's best farms, like our Sitio Portella, Sitio Lagoa and a number of other incredible coffees, such as our wonderful Sitio Baixao da Serra, which we supply to our friends over at Grind & Tamp.
You can find out more about Coffee Cargo by following the link here
Karst Organics
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in East Timor.
Karst's phenomenal business integrity has earned them a permanent seasonal spot on our coffee offer list, featuring with us from February - June.
Our mates at Batch Coffee club wrote a lovely review about our coffee with Karst Organics that you can read here
This coffee also features very heavily with our mates at Portuguese inspired York restaurant Tasca Franco
You can find out more on Karst organics by following the link below.
Yundian
Since their inception,Yundian's coffee has become a staple of our coffee offerings.
Chinese coffee production has always been on our radar as having incredible potential due to its incredibly rich agricultural history and diverse terroir.
Yundian have more than earned their spot as our regular partner for Chinese coffees, providing us with some exceptional coffees such as Lu Sun and the Red Sparrow.
Caribbean Goods
Our wonderful Guatemalan coffee sourcing partner.
For more information on Caribbean Goods, follow the link here
Micafe
Our wonderful sourcing partner for various Colombian coffee microlots.
For more information on Micafe, follow the link here
Forest Green Coffee
Our sourcing partner for El Vergel's microlots in Colombia.
Shady & Elias have also earned themselves a permanent spot on our Really Good Decaf Coffee rotation, with their exceptional Decaf from El Vergel.
We have been consistently blown away by the quality of their coffees, especially their Sugarcane Decaf.
For more information about El Vergel, follow this link here
Makicuna
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in Ecuador.
For more information, follow this link here
Cofinet
Our wonderful sourcing partners for various Colombian Microlots.
Bethany, Liam and the rest of the team at Cofinet have been excellent in sorting us out with some spectacular Colombian Microlots.
Currently available is our San Sebastián that you can find roasted for our mate Andy over at Bottle and Bean.
For more information on Cofinet, follow this link here