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Two team members from our shops have been on a coffee journey as they learn to roast their own coffee for International Women’s Day.
On Saturday 8th March, International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world, and here at 200 Degrees, we’re launching a new coffee to mark the occasion roasted by two people from our shop teams: Bea from our Bond Street shop in Leeds, and Gladys from our Lower Temple Street shop in Birmingham. At the end of 2024, they answered our call for female and non-binary members of staff to apply for an opportunity to work with our Head Roaster Mike on this single origin. Since then, they’ve been on a journey to learn more about roasting process, choosing and profiling our newest Guest bean, which will be launched soon.
Bea started off working in the hospitality industry working in restaurants, and found they were drawn most to the customer interaction side of the job. Paired with a general love of coffee, they then moved to a high street coffee shop, before a desire to know more about speciality coffee led them to a role at 200 Degrees. “I found it so intimidating when I first started this job – everyone was so talented, but they were also so welcoming. And now making great coffee is like second nature to me.”
Gladys moved to the UK from Hong Kong with her family and finished her degree in Bristol. Being a bit shy, she was advised to take a job to improve her social skills, and a supervisor role at 200 Degrees was the perfect fit. She thought she’d only stay a while, but it’s been 18 months and she’s still enjoying it. “I love the people I work with, and another thing that makes me stay is that there’s so many opportunities offered to me, and I really appreciate how people treat me.”
Learning about coffee from passionate baristas opened Bea and Gladys’ eyes to the industry. They have both also been supported by other incredible women in the company: Bea credits her Cluster Manager Aimee: “She’s always there for me, and she’s been so supportive – so many words of wisdom!” Gladys fondly remembers her first supervisor, Joe who she shadowed for her first few shifts and really showed her the ropes. “I picked things up really quickly from her.”
Getting to visit the Roast House to work on our International Women’s Day coffee, Bea has been pleasantly surprised to see the range of job roles that make the coffee industry tick. Bea says “It was really eye opening to see the opportunities here – everyone said ‘you could make a career out of this’.” And Gladys has been amazed about all the things she has learnt about coffee since she started: “Just the different varieties and processes. And all the different roles in the industry too, it makes me feel like I could apply my degree here too.”
Getting to visit the Roast House to work on our International Women’s Day coffee, Bea has been pleasantly surprised to see the range of job roles that make the coffee industry tick. Bea says “It was really eye opening to see the opportunities here – everyone said ‘you could make a career out of this’.” And Gladys has been amazed about all the things she has learnt about coffee since she started: “Just the different varieties and processes. And all the different roles in the industry too, it makes me feel like I could apply my degree here too.”
As for their time here in the Roast House, both Bea and Gladys have been learning the ropes alongside our head roaster Mike. After cupping twelve different coffees, they selected one bean to move forward to the roasting process: an anaerobic washed coffee from producer Nestor Lasso in Colombia.
“I love this coffee, it’s so versatile,” says Bea. Gladys highlights the bright and fruity taste notes that they picked out during the cuppings “It was like mango and pineapple!” For the next step, they cupped the coffees again after Mike had prepared three sample roasts of the beans with subtle variations between each one. This led to the first production roast, in 200 Degrees’ Loring roaster, with both our trainees watching on as the green beans turned a beautiful milk chocolatey colour over the 11 minute roast process. At the time of writing, both Bea and Gladys have gone away with their own samples from this roast to try as espresso, filter and as milk drinks with their own shop teams in Leeds and Birmingham. Their experiments will decide if any changes need to be made to the roast profile, the final taste notes that will go on the label, and the recipes we recommend to our buying customers.
You can try Bea and Gladys’ International Women’s Day roast at our Open Day on Saturday 8th March. The day itself is free to attend and open to everyone, but we’ll also be hosting roastery demos for a £5 donation to charity., which can be booked online here.
