New cafe Cat’s creating a place of welcome
ASHOP in Easton that has sat empty for five years has been given a new lease of life.
The cafe Radical Roasters has now opened up, serving coffee, cakes and light bites.
Cat Manson began roasting coffee in her shed a year ago but has taken the leap to expand the wholesale business into the cafe on St Mark’s Road.
It is open on Fridays and weekends. The space is used for roasting coffee during the rest of the week.
Cat plans to expand the opening hours slowly alongside making the space available to community groups, offering coffee roasting training and tasting sessions.
She said she wanted Radical Roasters to be an inclusive space where everyone could feel welcome.
Sustainability and social responsibility are at the heart of her business model, which means minimum waste and a fair price for coffee farmers.
Cat said: “All the coffees are from fully traceable farms – farms that I’ve been working with year upon
year. I pay at least three times the fairtrade price for all the green coffee I buy in and try to make it as affordable as possible to the customer.
“I only got the keys nine weeks ago so I’m just making small steps to get things started. I am a speciality coffee shop, but I want everyone to feel welcome here.
“I just want it to be a space where people can come in and talk to each other – like the old-style coffee houses where people came and shared ideas as opposed to getting really sciencey about it.
“One of the other main things about the business is that I’ve been running these free workshops for marginalised groups who can come and learn about coffee and new skills.”
Cat has lived in Easton for the past seven years after moving from Donegal to live with her partner, who is from Bristol.
When her shed became too small to roast coffee she needed a larger space and a bigger roaster.
With the help of a grant from Bristol City Council she has been able to open the cafe and put down a deposit for a roaster.
As a new business with high outgoings, at this point she is simply trying to break even and does not yet have resources to employ staff. For this reason, it is not possible to open the cafe Monday to Thursday.
Alongside the cafe and coffee roasting, there is a vending machine that sells radical books, among other interesting items.
A range of Radical Roasters merchandise is also available. The coffee is free from packaging, which allows those who are buying coffee to drink at home to fill up their own containers.