Continuing a coffee legacy

An offshore worker turned coffee producer hopes to continue the legacy of his mentor as he takes over The Orkney Roastery. 

Roger Hall’s fascination with coffee began as a pep up while working long shifts on the rigs, and after indulging in his curiosity during his weeks off, he soon became the right hand man of the company’s late founder, Euan Smith. 

“Just over two years ago, I started getting involved in production,” recalled Roger, who is now leading operations at the Hatston roastery, alongside partner Edith. 

“I worked offshore, and had weeks off, and I wanted to see what was involved.

“Euan was always very good at explaining how it all works, and we were working towards a succession plan for the future when he passed away in November.

“Euan would have wanted us to keep roasting and serving customers and I made the decision there and then with Euan’s wife Fiona to just go for it and quit offshore.

“It was a unique opportunity to carry on what Euan had built.”

Production at Orkney’s first coffee roastery began in 2016, when Euan founded the business alongside Sara Tait.

Euan had built up a wealth of experience working at other roasteries in Scotland, and had also been supplying and servicing machines for the catering and domestic sectors in Orkney for 12 years at that point. 

Working in small batches to develop a range of exciting flavours to give Orcadians a fresh kind of caffeine hit, The Orkney Roastery soon became the go-to supplier for a great swathe of the county’s cafes and restaurants, as well as grabbing attention in Shetland and further afield.

Coffee fans can also grab a bag of magic beans from the shops to get their fix at home. 

Roger hopes to continue the company’s established brands, while developing his own new range of single origin coffees.

“Doing single origin is something I want to do for the retail side of things,” the coffee producer explained. 

“It’s nice to play with them in the sample roaster.”

In a single week, the company produces up to 350kg of coffee in a small factory set up, using beans from all over the world. 

A step inside the roastery brings the scents of Columbia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Kenya, Indonesia and Ethiopia to your nostrils. 

“The price of coffee can be as volatile as oil,” said Roger, showing off the small scale selection of beans he gets via suppliers in London. 

“It can move by over £1-2 per kg in any given week.”

Crafting the coffee takes time and patience, with new blends sampled in a smaller test roaster before Roger gets started on a full batch. Between his passion for the process and a taste for the product itself, sleep is sometimes elusive! 

Creating the perfect roast is a careful balance of art and science. In part it’s about using technology and in part it’s about being hands on and carefully watching how the beans are developing.

“Each roast takes 15 or 20 minutes, and the beans sit for 24 hours before I can bag them up,” he explained.

“You get about 8kg for every 10kg you put in, the coffee equivalent of the Angels share I suppose.”

“We produced 240kg this week, and that’s a quiet week.”

Besides roasting coffee, Roger has also turned his existing engineering skills to the other element of the business — servicing and repair of coffee machines. 

“The coffee side of it is very different from working offshore,” he said. 

“With the service and repair of espresso machines and grinders — it’s very similar to pressure vessels and industrial machinery offshore, just a lot smaller!”

As this new chapter begins for The Orkney Roastery, Roger hopes to honour Euan’s legacy.

“I would like to give my thanks and appreciation to Fiona, family and friends and all my customers and clients for their continued support over the last eight months and into the future,” he said. 

Fiona Smith is pleased to see the business her husband founded pass into safe hands. 

“I’m absolutely delighted that Roger and Edith are taking over both The Orkney Roastery and the coffee machine sales and servicing business,” she said.

“Euan put an enormous amount of himself into building the business over many years, and it means a great deal to me to know that it’s passing into such good hands.

“Roger was trained by Euan and worked alongside him, so there is a real continuity of knowledge, relationships and coffee recipes.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Roger and Edith build on what Euan created and carry his legacy forward, while also bringing their own ideas and making the businesses very much their own.

“I know Euan would have wanted the businesses to continue to grow and evolve, and I’m excited to see where Roger and Edith take them next.”