Why Grumpy Mule?
One of the most frequent questions that the Grumpy Mule team gets asked when people hear the name or see the Mule logo, is “why Grumpy Mule?”
Ian often replies, completely jokingly, that “wouldn’t you be grumpy if you’d carried two heavy sacks of coffee down a steep mountainside” whereas the rest of the team point to Ian and say with straight faces that “we named it after the boss”. A rumour also persists that Damian named it after legendary singer Tom Waits’ lyrical references to mules.Thankfully, none of these are completely true…
Coffee and the Mule
The link between mules and coffee is not hard to find. In the not too distant past, mules had often been used on both the larger plantations and coffee estates and by smallholder farmers to move the harvested coffee cherries down the tricky terrain to the processing stations or markets below. The finest coffee grows at higher altitudes in conditions that are often both mountainous and tropical.
Nowadays, this vital work of delivering the freshly picked cherries is more frequently carried out by pickup trucks wrestling with winding, rutted tracks. However, there are still farmers who rely upon mules for assistance. Indeed, the most famous coffee logo and brand in the world, for the Colombian coffee federation (Café de Colombia), sees the coffee farmer Juan Valdez alongside his trusty mule.
There are still misconceptions about mules, in that they are seen as bad tempered and stubborn, whereas they are actually highly intelligent creatures representing the best genes of the parent species (horse and donkey). There are also misconceptions in coffee - we want to make coffee as transparent as possible from source to cup.
Once the Grumpy Mule team saw all of these connections, it became clear that the name Grumpy Mule could symbolize the hard work and effort that goes into the farming and production of great coffee in coffee growing regions. That extra graft and commitment leads to a higher quality of product and Grumpy Mule recognizes that, as a coffee roaster, it’s important to share with the growers the recognition for the quality of the coffee.
It also helped that Meltham, Grumpy Mule’s home town, has a well trodden history of ‘packhorses’ and packhorse trails weaving up and across the Pennine moors, to and from the local textile industry.
Grumpy Mule - in short, a distinctive name for a distinctive product - tirelessly transported from the far flung corners of the earth.
Supporting mules
If a mule is a going to be used to help out on a farm or indeed anywhere, it deserves to be treated like one of the family. Here are some links to charities that do great work looking after (often badly treated) mules.
