Good Coffee Was Already Taken.

I mean, seriously taken. Again and again and again. Everywhere we looked it was “Just Good Coffee”, “Good Coffee Doing Good”, “Really Good Coffee”, “Really Really Really Good Coffee”. It sort of made us feel a bit icky.

We took for granted that the specialty coffee industry was already doing good things. It should go without saying that you’re looking after farmers, aiming to be as sustainable as possible and making the best-tasting cup you can. We believe that should be standard.

But it also left us thinking something else... Is everyone doing the same thing in specialty coffee?

I Have Low Self-Esteem

I did, thankfully, know a fair bit about brewing coffee from working in the industry as a head barista at old Hackney Wick favourite PEARL. This meant I had to trust my instincts, but that’s a hard thing to do when you’re someone whose anxiety and ADHD regularly lead you into spirals of self-doubt.

This is where my business partner and biggest cheerleader, Alex, stepped in. He trusted me and allowed me to make mistakes and figure shit out.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett

This made me realise that the truest story of BAD, more so than how Mandi and Alex became friends and business partners, was the journey.

Coffee is about always learning, never resting on your laurels and trusting your instincts.

These days, we have a couple of SCA sensory accreditations under our belts, so don’t worry, gang. We know what we’re doing!

Expectation Management

It’s a hard thing to open an espresso bar/coffee shop inside your roastery when you don’t know if people are going to like the product. All I had was the fact that I enjoyed the coffee.

In some ways, to begin with, being called BAD Coffee felt like a safety blanket. It’s either a really bold move, a really honest move or a really dumb move.

Truth of the matter is, I had so much fun doing the branding as “BAD COFFEE” that I couldn’t not call us BAD.

Thankfully, people liked the coffee and bought into the idea of us being on this journey of learning. Having customers right there, giving me direct feedback, gave me confidence, direction and helped me improve.

We’re Attention Seekers

Why else start a coffee company called BAD and have it bright yellow while everyone else is focused on white cubes and Instagram aesthetics? Right?? I mean we're actually really shy and awkward...

We like to think of ourselves as the “anti-aesthetic”. Yellow doors, floors and counters. Industrial, not by design, but because we’re a working coffee roastery.

Having been in Hackney Wick since 2010, a lot of that DIY, make-do-and-mend ethos is in our DNA, seeping out through decades of warehouse living and studio culture that made Hackney Wick so famous.

So yeah, we’re a bit rough around the edges inside, but that’s because we built everything up ourselves. The space is a constant work in progress, ever evolving to suit our needs.

We Have a Sense of Humour

Having borne the brunt of many pretentious baristas in my time, I became aware of how stuffy specialty coffee can be and how off-putting that is when you’re starting to learn more about it. We want to keep things light and approachable. Adding a touch of self-deprecation to the name can’t hurt, can it?

Non-pretentious doesn’t mean non-serious. We take quality seriously. From farm to roast to cup.

But we don’t think great coffee should come with a side of intimidation. Pull up a chair. Ask us anything. We might not be able to answer it, but the whole point of being called BAD is that no one’s perfect at first.

We’re all on a learning journey, and you know you’re gonna be bad before you can be good.

We’re BAD, and we’re proud of it.

So who is BAD Coffee...

We’re BAD Coffee, a female-led specialty coffee roastery based in the heart of Hackney Wick, East London. We make great-tasting, non-pretentious coffee for everyone.

Every bean we roast has a story. We source from smallholder farms and cooperatives and experimental producers around the world. We aim to make a positive contribution to coffee-producing countries and sustainable agriculture by making good decisions and always striving to improve.

And yeah, we’re proud of our work so far, but there’s always more to do.

Born in the creative chaos of Hackney Wick, BAD Coffee was built on a simple idea: we roast the coffee we like to drink.

We roast small batches with care and source with intention. We’re not here to make coffee complicated. We’re here to make coffee that everyone can enjoy, no matter their knowledge or the sophistication of their brewing kit.

Our roastery is fiercely independent. We believe the best coffee comes from people who give a damn: about the farmers who grow it, the communities who depend on it and the people who drink it.

Find out more about our coffee choices here.