OUR TEAM
JAMES GUARD
James founded The Coffee Circle (the previous name for Heart & Graft) in 2012 and set about learning the complex craft of roasting… in his garage. Keen to build something special in Manchester he started Heart & Graft in 2015 on a mission to make fantastic specialty coffee approachable and accessible.
SEAN FOWLER
Sean previously worked at a large commercial roastery, Lincoln and York, where he amassed a lot of knowledge about the coffee world by visiting coffee producing countries, his role as an assistant buyer meant he was tasting and trying a lot of coffees allowing him to pick the best, which he continues to do at Heart & Graft as well as roasting and working with customers directly.
KIERON CARNEY
Kieron joined us in 2018 as our coffee trainer, as we want to support all our wholesale customers with top quality training and support. Recently Kieron has become a certified Barista Hustle coach allowing us to help wholesale customers track and train their staff more easily online with an in person exam to certify the skills learnt. Kieron has competed in UKBC four times and also Brewers Cup in 2019 so he knows what he’s doing whether it’s on an espresso machine or a Clever Dripper.
MICHAEL MITCHELL
Michael has brought hitherto unseen levels of “Guy at the Desk” skill to Heart & Graft since 2016 - making packing and delivery more efficient and helping implement software to aid and track roasting. Recently has been working on improving the backend systems of the website to get our coffee to you as soon as possible.
OUR STORY
James set up The Coffee Circle in 2012 and set about learning the complex craft of roasting in his garage, Sean was the youngest Q grader (industry certified coffee taster) in the country, working for a large commercial coffee roasters.
Keen to build something special in Manchester, we started Heart and Graft in 2015 on a mission to make fantastic speciality coffee approachable and accessible. The wholesale business has grown a lot in the last 5 years, and we very proudly supply some of Manchester’s biggest and busiest bars and coffee shops.
Mike has brought new levels of “Guy at the Desk” skill set to us, relishing streamlining our packing and deliveries operation . Kieron joined us 2 years ago as our trainer, as we wanted to support all our wholesale customers with all the training they need to up their coffee game.
We all have the same outlook on speciality coffee. Our job is make sure it’s easy for people to feel invited into the experience of buying and brewing better coffee, and do this by sourcing and roasting fantastic coffees that have real character and provenance.
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