Speciality coffee, for all its talk of terroir and origin, is in many ways an urban industry. High-end cafes and roasteries embrace industrial aesthetic and typically hug the streets of our busiest and most iconic cities. Despite this fact, Dark Woods has always felt more a product of the windswept moorlands and snug valleys of Yorkshire than of the cities that they surround. When opportunity arose to take on a run-down Victorian weaver’s mill on the banks of the River Colne, we saw immediately the opportunity to carve out a space that connected both with the landscape and the industrial past of the valley that they lived in.
Today the Mill is a roastery, a Barista School and, at times, a community space where tasting evenings and pop-up café events are a popular part of the local events calendar. We are surrounded by nature, but also at the heart of a thriving creative community of sourdough bakers, textile workers, cheesemakers, brewers and even other coffee roasters who all share our passion for quality, craftsmanship and tradition.