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. 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. You can find a blog post on resting coffee here.

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. 

 

Can you supply coffee to my office? 

Absolutely! This is something we have worked on before and continue to do so. Just head over to our wholesale section and fill out an application. If you are based in York and the surrounding area, we can also include you in our local deliveries. If you are based nationally, we ship parcels via Royal Mail or DPD.

 

Where do you supply wholesale coffee in York? 

We supply a number of the best coffee shops in York and we are proud to do so. It would be unfair for me to list them here in the FAQs, but if you send us a message on Instagram or via the contact page, we can give you a more specific answer.