Students Launch New Specialty Coffee Company

Coffee lovers with a taste for experimentation are in for a treat. Rough Cut Coffee, a new coffee subscription service, has been successfully launched by two second year BA(Hons) Business Entrepreneurship students, Ross Woolford and Rowan Weyer-Brown.

Working with speciality coffee roasters from across the UK, the student company offers customers a chance to try different blends each month, tailoring them to their tastes.

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BA(Hons) Business Entrepreneurship

Rowan and Ross told us: “While in our favourite cafes, we always loved the coffee we were drinking, but we didn’t know much about it and how to appreciate the different types. We launched Rough Cut Coffee so our customers could enjoy some of the best coffee roasted in the UK, whilst learning what’s in a cuppa and developing their coffee knowledge.”

The first two roasteries on Rough Cut Coffee’s partner list are Littlestone Roastery and Voyager Coffee. Littlestone work closely with their coffee bean suppliers to ensure it sources not only the highest quality beans but also does so ethically and sustainably. Voyager Coffee, formerly Coffee West Ltd, started in 2001 supplying Devon and Cornwall with their Italian ROCCA coffee (a brand that’s still strong today). Since then, it has grown to become one of the largest coffee suppliers in the South West, with a wide product range.

With Rough Cut Coffee’s monthly subscription box (which can be cancelled at any time), customers receive a variety of coffee to try, along with an information card.

The card includes details such as “how to properly make a cup of coffee” (how much to use and at what temperature to add water, without burning the coffee and creating a bitter taste), where and how the coffee was grown, as well as what taste notes to expect. 

Setting up a new business can be a difficult journey, but on the Business Entrepreneurship course, students are supported. They are guided through key management theories and market-led modules, helping them to apply their knowledge to their new companies. Focussing on collaboration, they work with industry partners, other students, researchers and faculty members from across the university, in the realisation of their business ideas. 

Rowan and Ross explained: “Our studies have helped us to launch Rough Cut Coffee by teaching us the relevant processes and legalities involved in starting up a business. This helped to not only build the foundations of our business, but also scale for success.” 

Sharing a love of coffee and an ambition to succeed, Ross and Rowan saw a gap in the market and seized it, taking their product to market as soon as they could. 

Their advice to anyone with a burning idea is to “say yes to opportunities and don’t be afraid to push past your comfort zone”. If you’ve got a great idea, run with it.