James Hoffmann

I co-founded Square Mile Coffee Roasters in 2008.

The company was created to not only source and roast coffees that would get people excited and interested in coffee, but it was also created to help foster a culture and community of coffee in London.

www.squaremilecoffee.com

I wrote The World Atlas of Coffee as a guide to the world of modern coffee. Published in 2014, by Octopus Publishing. The book has sold well internationally and there are an increasing number of translations available including Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Korean, Thai and German.

www.theworldatlasofcoffee.com

We created Tens, Hundreds and Thousands to build the products that we want to have but cannot find anywhere. Whether they are coffee related, food, spirits and everything in between, we create the kind of things that we want to own and collect.

Everything we produce, we do so in multiples of tens, hundreds or thousands depending on the item’s complexity, purpose and scale. Once an item sells out, we won't produce it again, making each edition unique and collectable.

We team up and collaborate with talented local and international artists, designers and manufacturers to make every project and product a reality. We've got some exciting ideas and projects coming your way, so sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram for news and updates.

Prufrock Coffee was founded by Gwilym Davies, Jeremy Challender and Klaus Kunke.

Over the years the founders were pulled in different directions, with Gwilym in the Czech Republic, Klaus spending more time on the Isle of Wight and Jeremy planning to return to Australia.

In 2017 this meant there was an opportunity for Square Mile Coffee Roasters to get involved.

Prufrock has a global reputation for coffee quality, innovation and experience.

https://www.prufrockcoffee.com/

I collaborated with Nuova Simonelli/Victoria Arduino on an espresso machine, released in 2015.

The goal was to build a machine specifically for the growing speciality coffee community worldwide. The machine helped with the substantial growth the Victoria Arduino brand has seen in recent years, with an ARR in 2016 that is over 10x that of 2011.

The machine was the first in the world to make gravimetric technology widely available.

I was part of a small team of consultants who worked with Nuova Simonelli/Victoria Arduino to help create a new grinder for the speciality coffee market. The grinder has been widely praised as producing excellent coffee, while reduce waste and variance in the coffee bar.

I’ve been writing about coffee, and business, here since 2004. Since creating more for YouTube I’ve been writing a lot less there. It is now moslty an archive of past ideas and work.

www.jimseven.com

I self-published “The Best of Jimseven” in 2017. The book is a beautiful hardback, compiling the best of my writing online covering a period of time that saw huge change in the industry.

It is also available as an e-book.

You can buy it here.

VA Machinery was created in 2017 to bring Victoria Arduino espresso machines and grinders to the UK market. They are the exclusive importers for Victoria Arduino, and work with a growing network of distributors and engineers to offer sales, training and technical support to the HORECA trade.

Based near London Bridge, they have a dedicated showroom and training space to offer roasters, baristas, and engineers the opportunity to learn more about technologies such as T3, Clima Pro and Gravitech.

I’m a founder and director of the company.

http://vamachinery.com

At Prufrock Training & Consulting our goal is to ensure that all of our students have a great learning experience when attending a course or workshop with us, taking away new knowledge and improved coffee skills, feeling confident in their abilities.

Our courses are taught using top-level professional equipment, by a barista trainer with more than ten years experience in the coffee industry. Prufrock Coffee has been on the forefront of Speciality Coffee since we opened one of the first speciality coffeebars in London in 2011, and we're always working to improve the coffee we serve and how we serve it.

Since 2017 we're part of Square Mile Roastery, bringing in-depth coffee knowledge and the opportunity to work with people passionate about sourcing and roasting great quality coffee, while collaborating with coffee farmers around the world in a sustainable way.

I’m a co-founder and director of the company.

https://www.prufrockconsulting.com/

I created the poster to help explain the complex history of coffee varieties in arabica coffee.

The poster is currently available for both wholesale and retail sale at the link below.

You can buy it here.

Carvetii Coffee are a quality focused roasting company, based in the heart of the Lake District. I’ve been involved with the company since its inception, and they’ve built a nationwide reputation for the coffee, customer service and support.

They might have the most beautiful location of any roasting company in the UK.

https://www.carvetiicoffee.co.uk/

Over the last couple of years I’ve worked hard to create useful videos and content on YouTube, in an effort to reach a wider audience than my blog previously did.

Most of my creative efforts are currently focused on this platform.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb0O2CdPBNi-QqPk5T3gsQ?view_as=subscriber

I’m an advisor to Bellwether, who are building a new generation of smarter, electronic coffee roasters. I believe that their smokeless roaster has the potential to disrupt traditionally centralised roasting, and help the industry evolve past its reliance on fossil fuels.

They are based in Berkeley, CA.

https://www.bellwethercoffee.com/

I am an advisor for Afineur. Afineur are a biotechnology company, focused on harnessing the power of microbiology to improve the taste and health of the foods we eat and drink.

https://www.afineur.com/

Over the years I have competed in a number of coffee competitions:

World Championships:

World Barista Champion 2007

5th place World Barista Championships 2006

5th place World Latte Art Championships 2006

5th place World Coffee Tasting Championships 2008

2nd place World Brewers Cup 2011

National Championships:

UK Barista Champion 2006 & 2007

UK Coffee Tasting Champion 2008

UK Brewers Cup Champion 2011

I recorded and published six episodes of a podcast back in 2011. They have been downloaded more than 120,000 times.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/jimseven/id422022996

The Coffee Jobs Podcast was created to dive deeper into the challenges around both hiring and career progression in the coffee industry. Each episode is a dedicated interview with a respected coffee professional.

http://coffeejobspodcast.com

I worked with the Seattle based food technology company to create a coffee brewing course, as part of their online classes.

You can view the class here.

I worked with Flavoractiv, and Coffee Specialists, to create a standardised kit of defects for coffee. This is the first of its kind available.

Available here.

I co-founded Longberry Publishing. The goal was to produce an “occasional journal of coffee”, writing about the subject in a way that we felt was broadly appealing. We wanted to dive into the unusual, esoteric and the niche and showcase them to a wider audience.

We closed the company in 2018.

I created Coffee Jobs Board to help passionate coffee businesses connect with passionate coffee people. Originally a London-focused board, it grew and grew and now covers a number of cities and countries.

The goal was to make it easier to find passionate people, and it hopefully helped hundreds of businesses with the tricky task of recruitment.

I sold the company in 2017, and it continues to grow and go from strength to strength. It is probably the most popular coffee jobs focused site online right now.

https://www.coffeejobsboard.com/

Brewed by Hand was a company created to be the exclusive distributor for Hario in the UK. It was a collaborative effort with Square Mile Coffee Roasters and Coffee Hit.

The company was sold in 2016, and continues to grow and distribute an increasing number of brands in the UK, including Wilfa and Loveramics.

I was a co-founder a former director of the company.

https://www.brewedbyhand.com/