Dark fluid Coffee beans

I first heard about Dark Fluid from 'The Independent Coffee Book London'. Which is a splendid guide to London's cafes, espresso bars and coffee roasters. At the UK Barista Championships they managed to secure second place with their coffee beans and also pick up awards for best cappuccino and best signature drink.

Shane and Lawrence at the Dark Fluid roastery

The whole concept for Dark Fluid came from a day of open-air roasting at Lewisham Market. The company was not started by business men, looking to capitalize on a growing market, but by a small group of coffee enthusiasts with a little ingenuity. They have a fantastic knowledge about coffee which is intrinsically linked to their great passion for what they do. As well as the a solid foundation in roasting they have a mobile coffee brewing stall, which they operate at Brockley Market every Saturday. I went down one afternoon to try this award winning coffee, which is where I met Lawrence Sinclair.

Their current roasting machine

Their first roasting machine

Before starting Dark Fluid in 2011 Lawrence work in Michelin Star kitchens in the North of England. His culinary experience seems to have given him a great understanding of the science behind roasting. He invited us down to a small garage not too far from Brockley and Lewisham in South London, which is where he roasts the beans. The first Machine that Lawrence used was a little Hottop coffee roaster with a capacity of around 300g per batch. Perhaps not ideal for a commercial operation which is why Lawrence now uses a machine that is a little bit bigger. He made his own modifications to the drum on his current roasting machine in order to achieve his desired convection and conduction and I must say that the results a spectacular!

Dark fluid supply their Espresso blend to a hand full of cafes around South London and are about to launch an on-line shop very soon. For the drip coffee on our trike they have been supplying us with single origin beans since we began. Although the single origin beans are different every time we buy them they're always of the highest quality. The espresso blend, which we don't use because we don't make espresso, also tastes great; it has a nice strong flavour like you would expect but very little bitterness and a sweet nuttiness that results in a wonderfully balanced and delicious coffee. If you are in London and in Brockley and fancy a coffee and it's Saturday then you should go and check them out at Brockley Market.