#Brewtiful People: Darren Elliot

Darren Elliot, Co-Founder and Former Director of Timberyard

Darren Elliot, Co-Founder and Former Director of Timberyard

For the 10th anniversary of UK Coffee Week, we are featuring our list of #Brewtiful People, those who have brought UK Coffee Week to life in the past decade. This week, we had a chat with Darren Elliot, Co-Founder & Former Director of Timberyard.

Back in 2011-2012, when UK Coffee Week was still in its infancy, Timberyard was one of the original coffee shops who dedicated themselves to sharing the message of Project Waterfall to coffee lovers and the industry. We asked Darren why he supported the campaign and what UK Coffee Week means to him.

“Firstly, congratulations on your tenth anniversary, that’s a massive milestone. I think back to the early days of UK Coffee Week and the coffee festival, in around 2011/12 when things were just taking off. It was all so small scale back then, but look at you guys now. Incredible.

I remember I was caught on film, back in 2014 I think, excitedly likening UK Coffee Week to Christmas. I still think it now, it was honestly like Christmas week for us at Timberyard. The build-up, all the preparations, the buzz on social media, the excitement of so many events going on all over town. It’s a week of celebration for coffee shop owners, a chance to show off everything that’s new and exciting, and to encourage everyone to buy and brew better coffee – and that’s what it’s all about. Coffee, as we all know, is so amazing when done right.

Before selling the brand in early 2018 our original Timberyard shops were passionate partners to UK Coffee Week. We knew from the beginning that this was one week every year when the spotlight would shine on us. It was therefore the perfect opportunity to champion all the growers, the roasters, the shop owners (from small indies to the big chains), and to say thank you to the customers supporting us by ultimately buying our coffee year after year. 

But it is also a chance to raise awareness about where our coffee comes from, about the plight of the growers, the struggles to provide access to clean water in those communities, and to communicate about all the continuing work being done by organisations like Project Waterfall. That all has to be funded somehow.

Each year we would embrace the week-long celebrations wholeheartedly and with genuine affection for the cause. We dreamt up new campaigns and enjoyed finding new ways to engage with our customers, sharing with them stories about the work being done in Africa by Project Waterfall. People just weren’t aware of this previously so it became an important platform to get the message across.”

Thank you so much, Darren, for all of your support over the years. We couldn’t be where we are now without the help of people like you!