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Chris Edgcumbe-Rendle
Chris Edgcumbe-Rendle is in hot water. As he has been for most of his adult life. Or rather, he’s in the business of concocting endlessly varied infusions for turning hot water into award-winning beverages that delight, ignite, or subdue the senses — depending on which brew you reach for.
We joined Chris at Edgcumbes Coffee Roasters & Tea Merchants' HQ in West Sussex, to see the Master Roaster at work and talk about family business, Hindi as a second language, and the zen approach to roasting his famous blends.
It doesn’t take long to realize that EDGE Café, home of Edgcumbe Coffee Roasters & Tea Merchants is a very popular meeting spot. There was a constant yet gentle stream of people coming through to while a little time away from whatever they should be doing in the delightfully spacious grounds of The Old Barn—a former cattle shed and bull pen—with their fresh-as-it-comes brew of choice.
The first sensory hit when we arrived on a sunny Thursday morning was the incredible aroma emanating from the roasting barn. Does he ever tire of it? “No. Never,” he says decidedly. “When driving around the country, you occasionally open the window, and, as a roaster, smell coffee... I think with some smells, yes, you can tire of it, and it can put you off the thing it's associated with, but not coffee,” he smiles.
As Chris pours a 15-kilo batch of speciality coffee beans into one of his high-tech roasters, the sound is reminiscent of hitting the jackpot on a Vegas slot machine—minus the sirens. Despite the open-sided barn and the numerous visual cues, some café patrons remain blissfully unaware of the roasting happening just metres away from their almond croissants until the delicious aroma wafts out of the roastery and envelops them. This delightful surprise often sparks comments and encourages repeat visits.
Chris' father, Frank, had a deep affection for India, stemming from his service in the Indian Army during the war. Following his military service, Frank enjoyed a successful career in the tea trades of India and Africa. Chris was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but his family relocated to India when he was three years old after his father secured a new position with an old established trading company, trading everything from Jute to tea, all over India and Africa.
Raised by an Indian nanny who spoke no English, Chris learned Hindi at an early age, a skill that has greatly benefited him throughout his career.
It was his bilingualism and a chance sighting of a newspaper advert in a Chiswick laundrette that led to Chris’ own career in the international tea and coffee trade. “It said: ‘TRAINEE TEA TASTER REQUIRED. MUST BE PREPARED TO TRAVEL’. " Chris loved the idea of free travel. “I applied and got the job; I think not least because I spoke Hindi,” he explains. “They said, ‘It says here you speak Hindi. Do you mind having a chat with our accountant? ‘Nimal, come up, please!’ he came up, and we started yakking. They looked at each other, turned to me and said, ‘when can you start?’”
While working for Finlay's, a tea merchant established in 1750, Chris achieved two significant goals: he completed his apprenticeship in the trade and travelled to India, Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Eventually he returned to work in the family business with his father. They sought to develop the perfect breakfast tea blend, and they came up with a ‘Rusper’, a blend of Assam and Kenyan black tea which still sells today, over 40 years on and is a personal favourite of Lord Trousers. For context: Rusper is a small Sussex village where Chris’ father was born.
I asked Chris whether, while living and working in the hot Far Eastern countries, he still dressed like a Brit. “I think I probably did. I liked tropical suits, lightweight but smart. Growing up, my dad wore safari jackets, which he also had made for me. Living abroad, you always had stuff made. It was so cheap, cheaper than buying it in shops.” Does he still have any of these made-to-measure items? “I don't, unfortunately. I find it very difficult to retain clothing. I've got four sons. They kind of borrow stuff, which I never get back!”
We can all remember a time when Nescafé Gold Blend was the aspirational coffee for most British folk. Thankfully, everyone has moved on since then. Was Edgcumbes ahead of the curve in those days? “Perhaps too ahead, it was difficult,” Chris admits. “Most people drank instant coffee made from mediocre beans grown at low altitudes and generally of inferior quality. We were ahead of the curve because we sold really good quality filter coffee. But price was always an issue. People could buy cheap, nasty, pour-over coffee. When espresso machines started appearing, everyone said: ‘No, no, no, no—I don’t want one of those—it will never take off!’ Of course, it did, and once people started getting espresso machines, they noticed the coffee was so much better. We were there to supply them, and we grew organically from that.”
When you’re dressed smart, you feel smart, it boosts your confidence, and for me, that’s important. Even after a long day of roasting, when I step out to meet a customer, looking presentable helps me maintain my confidence.
Now with two cafés, the Roastery café known as ‘The Edge café’ and the other located on the seafront run by his son, they are never short of willing guinea pigs to test new concoctions on. Chris notes, “The great thing about having a café attached to a roastery, along with a wholesale business, a retail business, and an online presence, is that you get feedback from all of them. People try the coffee in the café and then go into the shop and say, 'Can I have that coffee?' or they ask to try something else.” It really is a coffee theme park, and it’s wonderful.
Chris is clearly still passionate about the products he creates, but he also enjoys other aspects of running the business, such as optimising processes to be greener and more sustainable. “They are fun puzzles to solve. It's an ongoing process. Our green credentials really started about ten years ago. We thought, why are we selling six plastic bags of coffee to a box? he explains. “So, we decided to provide our trade customers with tubs. We'll fill those up. It's less energy to make, easy to label, and less costly, the savings are passed on to the customer. Just like beer barrels, we refill.”
Practical thinking extends to Chris’ wardrobe as well. On a typical workday, most people would look at him and think, “That is a smart-looking gentleman”, some may even mention it out loud—and they would be entirely correct. However, the waistcoat, apart from looking great, is first and foremost a functional item. It affords him essential movement and flexibility when working in the roastery. “Normally my waistcoats are a bit more rough-and-ready,” he says, admiring the Peter Christian moleskin version he’s wearing. “I'll have a knife in one pocket, a pen in another, and maybe a calculator. Yeah, I like them. They’re very handy.”
You might think of Chris’ monocle as merely a stylish accessory, but it’s actually quite practical. “I use it because only one of my eyes needs correcting, so it’s perfect for reading. It’s handy for checking the quality of beans, tea leaves, and the computer displays on the roasters. It just makes sense,” he explains. Although he’s sometimes hesitant to wear it in public social settings, like restaurants, fearing it might seem more affectatious than functional. We love the monocle, it is part of Chris’s distinctive look.
Alongside his monocle, Chris wears a biscuit beige moleskin waistcoat, a blue County Tattersall cotton shirt, a tweed baseball cap with a brown suede peak, and indigo-blue needlecord jeans. To complete his outfit while keeping his feet comfortable, he pairs a green set of our popular HJ softtop bamboo socks with chestnut suede, leather-lined, and rubber-soled Loake Arezzo shoes. We had a wonderful morning at Edgcumbes and extend our thanks to Chris—who was the perfect model, (even when a huge spider crawled into his waistcoat), his wife Alice, and all their fantastic staff. Now, it’s time for a brew.
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3My father was very happy with the quality of these soft top socks
Like i said im pleased
Excellent quality and very well cut unlike many modern shirts
they are for Christmas so not got them yet
great fit, colour and value for money
Exactly as I expected
Material a bit thin
Very happy with the product shame iv had to return for a bigger size
good quality for the money although waist size was marginal for the stated size
