Drink less coffee??!! Eh?


I believe we are all inter-connected. 

What happens to you, affects me and what happens to the earth impacts all of our wellbeing. To me this now seems undeniable. 

So, in the spirit of trying to reduce the impact of my coffee habit and in the hopes that others are looking to do the same I have decided to dedicate this month’s blog post to tips I have found that help me to reduce it’s impact. If you have anything you could add I would love to hear it as this is, most certainly, a mission of discovery.

1.Cutting back. What??!! Yes! Drink less coffee but enjoy it more. Really take the time to sit and enjoy it without having to get it down as part of some unconscious habit.

2. More coffee at home. I realise that so far these tips are not very glamorous but I have found a new love of coffee with some new brewing methods I have bought for my house. As I mentioned in my September blog post, I adore my Aeropress. It makes a simple yet beautiful cup of coffee. 

And who can deny the elegant beauty of a French Press? You can’t rush it. The falling grinds, the gentle pressure… wonderful.

3. Shop local and shop small.  Stewarts of Trent Bridge have a new, stunning Columbian bean with rich aromas of chocolate, roasted right here in Nottingham. It is a wonderful example of a small business using micro lots with goals around traceability and transparency.

4. Bring your own reusable for takeaways.

5. Compost your used grinds.

And there we have it, my 5 simple tips to a greener coffee habit. It is also worth mentioning that at The Split Screen HQ we are doing are best to make sure the coffee you receive from us is following these same principals and we continue to look for new ways to reduce our business waste and increase the bean transparency. Our friends at Nottingham’s Zero Waste Collective are always giving us top tips in the world of packaging, we have now ditched 1 kg coffee bags and have a reusable bucket we fill at our local roasters, Stewarts of Trent Bridge. We continue to be part of the countywide Eccocuppa initiative giving you all a whopping 50p off any hot drink when you use a reusable and we keep composting our used grinds in our own allotment or with our fellow trader Primary Gardens

But we are ALWAYS looking for more ways to educate ourselves and welcome any tips you may like to add. 

Do comment or let me know via social media.

Say hello to our new coffee supplier and my Aeropress


Keeping it local.

It doesn’t take much research or watching of the news to realise there is a change afoot.  People are wanting to know where their products are coming from and they want to know the people they are buying from.  Businesses with a good knack for interacting with their customers on social media or in more traditional methods seem to be making gains in ways that larger, more austere and rigid companies are not.  Flexibility and a human face seems to be what is generating the most interest and excitement.

I find this an excellent prospect as a consumer and as a small business owner.  Knowing the makers is wonderful.

With all this in mind I have decided to make a change in my coffee supplier.  For those of you who know us, we have been with 200 degrees for the past 3 years and have nothing but praise and admiration for them.  They have always been hugely supportive of what we do and I will miss the people and service they offer (not to mention their wonderful coffee).  But, in the spirit of keeping things small and being able to walk into the roasting house whenever I want to (I love being able to go into the roastery and have a nosy) I have decided to start a new coffee relationship with the lovely people at Stewarts of Trent Bridge.  Stewarts is named after Nottingham’s coffee visionary Stewart Falconer, who hand roasting coffee in the 80’s, before the word “artisan” even existed. They are still using the original roaster he bought for the job all those years ago which is a joy to watch – easily done by peering through the glass windows of Sneinton Market.

So far we have had a lot of love for our coffee and I hope this continues.  We still feel there is no excuse for bad coffee anywhere anymore.

Quick-fire Aeropress Review

I bought an Aeropress and I love it.  If you are thinking of trying out this new (i.e. not ancient) brewing method  here are the positives and a few, slight, minor,  negatives.


  1. it makes a good cup of coffee,

  2. there is no grit or grinds in that afore mentioned good cup of coffee,

  3. it’s easy (once you’ve worked out what all the separate parts do) to make a good cup of coffee and you can experiment with different ways and types, 

  4. good brewing method on-the-go and when travelling/camping,

  5. it’s easy to clean,

  6. Not expensive.


  1. there are a lot of parts and they don’t stack in a tidy way,

  2. you can only brew 1 (maybe 2 cups) at a time.