REVIEW
WHEN TWO HUGGERS MEET OVER SPECIALITY COFFEE… By Andreas Christou
Confession time - an hour and half spent with Henry from The Gentlemen Baristas was not nearly enough. Being on a coffee shop/roaster journey in speciality coffee myself, I was fascinated to hear about how he started. Having got TGB off the ground, establishing 10 locations and a roasting plant, he still has the ability to keep growing the brand and most importantly, still has the energy and enthusiasm to keep things fresh. What was evident from the very beginning was how friendly and warm Henry is. As I foolishly entered the exit door of his original shop on Union Street in Borough, we literally bumped into each other! “Andy?” “Henry!” “Filter?” Whilst passing me his freshly poured filter. “Thank you!” “Go and make yourself comfortable upstairs and I’ll be there shortly.” 8
When Henry made it upstairs, we quickly established that we were both passionate coffee people and even more passionate huggers, so we hugged... a great hug. Another confession: I am no way, in any form an expert in the art of interviewing, but I do consider myself to be someone who can make people feel at ease and comfortable, as can Henry. There was no real structure to my questioning, but those questions came from a place of real interest. Each line that was taken just opened up another insight into the TGB culture and Henry’s beliefs. Luckily, I remembered to press record and the stories began. When Henry was studying Town & Country Planning and Architectural Law, he fell into coffee entirely by accident. At the time he was working for a friend who had a coffeeshop in Bath, which was voted 30th out of the best 100 coffeeshops by the Independent. Henry then moved to London at the same time as Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” was Cibare Magazine
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