IT all started at celebrity chef Rick Stein’s restaurant in Cornwall and blossomed into an all consuming passion for a hot drink that tends to pass a lot of British people by.
Having worked with one of the country’s best known chefs a love of the coffee bean might not be the first thing to develop over three years for most people.
For 24-year-old Danielle Hadley that’s exactly what happened and it lead to her decision to return home to Bridgnorth and open what is becoming one of the finest and best known coffee making businesses in the county.
Danielle’s Coffee is a gourmet coffee company that supplies shops, hotels, bars and restaurants with some of the finest drinks the bean can make – as well as equipment, machinery and training, to ensure the perfect drink is produced.
“I have selected excellence for my blossoming business,” said Danielle, who attended Oldbury Wells School. “Over many years I developed my skills and discovered the products and people I want to work with.
“Having worked in busy restaurants and cafes myself I like to think I can relate to most situations.”
As soon as she left school Danielle knew she wanted to work in hospitality and after finishing her A-levels she decided to take a gap year and moved to Cornwall, to work for Rick Stein, in Padstow.
“I was learning so much on the job my year turned into three, and this is where I first got into coffee.”
Danielle entered the world’s most renowned coffee competitions – twice become a finalist of the UK Barista Championships (UKBC) – and is now on the committee of the championships and also a UKBC Judge.
She then travelled the country following her passion for coffee, managing coffee shops, roasting coffee commercially and giving Barista training.
“I really wanted to move back to my home town Bridgnorth but didn’t know where to get a good coffee role, or who I would like to work with.
“I decided to set up my own coffee distributing business and hopefully make a difference to the coffee standards in Shropshire.”
Danielle’s Coffee supplies coffee to The Down Inn and The Castle Tea Rooms in Bridgnorth, De Grey’s in Ludlow and The Riverside Aymestry, among others. She also sells her coffee to the general public on the Bridgnorth Market every Saturday.
“I see my products and services creating epiphanies for people all over the UK – they will discover greatness and do not want to go back.”
Danielle says understanding the coffee products and the equipment is just as important as the coffee bean itself, which is why she provides free training to those who buy her coffee and/or espresso machines for their establishment.
Sessions include half day barista training, full day barista training - which incorporates the history of coffee, seeing the coffee being roasted, tasting coffees from around the world and the art of making the perfect coffee - and Latte Art Training.
For more information or to get in contact with Danielle’s Coffee visit her website www.daniellescoffee.co.uk or go and see her on Saturdays in Bridgnorth Market.
She will be there again next weekend.