The Gentleman Baristas

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.” 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

launched, at the height of Jamie Oliver’s “Bish Bosh” takeover and he fell in love with a booming hospitality industry. He even managed to earn himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records when he worked at the first London Coffee Festival at the Truman Brewery for Kimbo.

Whilst working with Illy Coffee, Henry had access to some of the best kitchens and the most talented sensory people in London, which in normal circumstances wouldn’t have been the case. In the meantime, his passion and love for coffee was constantly growing.

After establishing himself in the coffee world working for Illy, he then finished his employment at Kimbo before embarking on The Gentlemen Baristas, and his role in the “fight against the Baristocracy” was born.

The frustration of seeing the way in which baristas were dealing with customers whilst not having a clear enough understanding of coffee, and yet still telling their customers how to drink it, was too much for him to stomach. Henry went on to explain that launching The Gentlemen Baristas was about showcasing well-mannered and welcoming Baristas with the ethos that “good coffee is a right, not a luxury”. TGB Baristas in the early stages experimented with coffee and still do to this day. They let their customers try it, as they receive instant feedback and the customer feels part of the process, and that their opinion counts.

“We reinvented the coffee house as we saw it, a place for strangers to speak, try new flavours, make new friends and where everyone always felt welcome”.

What I understood early on in my visit was that it is the TGB people who make the business what it is. The fact that Henry and Ed decided from the beginning to employ good people and train them to be excellent baristas was evident, and every staff member I engaged with during my time in the shop was first and foremost a nice person who made me feel special. In a world where there are many coffee shops on most corners of London, this is what makes a major difference on why the customer comes back.

We were in the presence of a master in hospitality and Henry spoke more about the feeling his brand reflects upon, rather than just the coffee itself. We discussed the importance of being a supportive part of the community and how this was most relevant on the night of the terrorist attacks in Borough Market. Their doors locked in their community for safety and cups of tea were served. But being good is not a new concept for the company. They adopted a campaign called ‘The Good Egg Club’ when TGB was first launched.

Let me try and explain how ‘The Good Egg Club’ worked. TGB produced a set of ‘Good Egg Cards’, so that if you saw someone do a good deed, you rewarded them with a card. This card entitled the recipient to a free coffee in any of The Gentlemen Baristas’ coffee houses. Alternatively, if you had a card and saw someone that needed a free coffee, you could give them a card and ‘pay it forward’! What Henry didn’t expect was that the cards the TGB team handed