Company profile

Grumpy Mule is produced by Bolling Coffee Ltd, one of the leading independent roasters of high quality, fresh coffees to the food service industry in the UK.

The roastery is situated in the small Yorkshire town of Meltham, right on the very edge of the Peak District National Park, just a couple of miles from the tourist centre of Holmfirth and the main local town of Huddersfield.

When Ian Balmforth joined his family’s coffee business in 1992, his aim was to develop a successful food service business.

With more than 30 years experience, Bolling Coffee was well placed to maximise the potential of the move towards espresso-based drinks and quickly developed a reputation for the quality of its product, equipment and service. When Damian Blackburn arrived at Bolling Coffee, Ian was able to pass on his experience, knowledge and passion for coffee. Over the next few years, both began to feel strongly that great coffee should be a luxury available and affordable to everyone.

Journeying around the tropics in search of new coffees for Bolling Coffee, Ian and Damian would frequently discover fantastic coffees that harboured flavours and aromas that few would have experienced in the UK. Such speciality beans, grown and processed by passionate farmers who cared about the quality of their crop, were often unique in both taste and price, and this made them unsuitable for the broad appeal needed from a coffee for the catering market. And so the idea of Grumpy Mule was born.

Frustrated by the knowledge that coffee lovers were missing out on these exciting products, Ian decided to offer them direct to the consumer so that they could enjoy them in the comfort of their own home. Building on this goal, Grumpy Mule coffee is now available both through the Grumpy Mule online shop and through a rapidly growing network of more than 200 independent retailers.

Grumpy Mule coffees are roasted in batches to suit their individual characteristics. The company has taken inspiration from the world of wine to ensure that customers can discover the distinctive character and provenance of each coffee by providing background about the place it was grown and the people who produced it. Most of these coffees aren’t just blends or characterless single origin coffees, but coffees from identifiable farms, estates and cooperatives of smallholder farmers. Ian says: “Here at Grumpy Mule, we roast and pack our own coffee which is vital to quality, consistency and for developing relationships with coffee growers.

“Our new roastery replaced our traditional coffee mills in 2000 and we’ve gradually introduced newer, more hi-tech roasting and packing equipment which enables us to constantly improve our range of coffees.”

“Coffee is such a part of our food and drink culture now in the UK and yet there isn’t really very much choice available to consumers. I hope that the Grumpy Mule coffees will enable coffee drinkers everywhere to experience this exciting drink in the way it should be drunk.

“In contrast to the traditional methods of blending various coffees, Grumpy Mule focuses upon offering and promoting unique single origin coffees and spellbinding micro-lots. Our passion for flavour and aroma is equalled only by our determination to find coffees that are produced with care and respect for the environment and the people who grow them.”