Jamie Simpson - Roasting coffee and hipster culture

The only coffee roaster in Angus, Jamie is  based in Arbroath and is 1 third of Sacred Grounds coffee company, creating delicious roasts ready to grind up and enjoy. We open up with a really interesting conversation about identity in relation to where you are from. It’s a strange one that I always ponder, am I now from Dundee? Or do I default to where I grew up just outside Edinburgh? It’s always a tricky on but I think it depends on who you’re speaking too and the place that you identify more with. For me that’s Dundee now. There’s 2 real strands in Jamie’s life music and coffee. Although we don’t get much time to chat about the music side of it you can hear some more of the story during Layla Brown’s episode talking about their band Lunan Bay. Jamie talks about how his love affair with coffee began and grew with several home roasters made out of little popcorn machines. We also got onto the concept of the ‘hipster’ and Jamie does confess that he adheres to some of the stereotypes. I think what this time period has given us is an appreciation of quality and focusing on ethical and sustainable approaches to working and living. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of interspersed bullshit along the way but there are some positives to be taken from this era. Artisan Roast a roaster and coffee shop in Edinburgh and subsequently Glasgow is where Jamie met Fatima. A 5kg coffee roasting machine from Turkey. He learned his trade on her with Artisan Roast in Glasgow and ended up purchasing her to start up sacred grounds. Jamie’s story is fascinating and looking forward he’s not in it to make truckloads of cash, just enough to sustain a comfortable and enjoyable life. This is a common viewpoint from other people that I’ve had on the podcast as well. Make enough money to live comfortably and have some disposable income to enjoy. If you can do that while doing a job that you love then you’ve made it. Check out all the DCA print studio classes until April here: http://cccdundee.com/getcreative Slobs & Blobs Xmas goodies: http://slobsandblobs.co.uk/ Where to get Sacred Grounds coffee: https://goo.gl/uM1Cwa Sacred grounds website - https://sacred-grounds.coffee/ Sacred grounds twitter - https://twitter.com/SacredGrounds14 Sacred grounds instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sacred_grounds_coffee_company/ Scottish Roasters Retreat - https://www.facebook.com/scottishroastersretreat/ Artisan Roast - https://www.artisanroast.co.uk/ Braithwaites Dundee - https://www.facebook.com/J.A.Braithwaite/?rf=625246524191332