#4REALFRIDAY IS WHERE I ASK 5 QUESTIONS TO SOME DAMN REAL, DAMN AWESOME PALS WHO ARE LIVING AND DOING DOPE STUFF 4REAL!

THEY'VE INSPIRED me OR BEEN A SUPPORT IN SOME WAY AND I WANNA SHARE THEM WITH YOU.

Hugh Duffie

WHAT COFFEE DO YOU DRINK?

Black filter, no sugar… Sometimes a flattie. My guilty pleasure is a Mocha… it’s what I used to drink before I got really into coffee.

WHAT WORK DO YOU DO?

I make up half of Sandows and specialise in making cold brew coffee for wholesale. It’s super varied but after 12 months we’ve realised our strengths a bit better and now I focus on taking care of all our sales and marketing day-to-day.

COOLEST ACHIEVEMENT?

The biggest sense of validation probably came from raising £124,000 on equity crowdfunding site Crowdcube in less than 3 days for Sandows. We'd put a lot of work in and people really saw that. We were so stoked!

BIGGEST CHALLENGE?

Constantly convincing myself I know what I’m doing so I stand a chance of convincing other people.

BEST ADVICE?

Mistakes are not something to get hung up on… Fail often, but learn swiftly.

I met Hugh a few years ago but it wasn’t until I was researching slow drip cold brew did we start to get to know each other properly. I wanted to start making and selling slow drip in the café as I had seen it done in America, but at that time there were only a couple of places in London that were doing it properly, the way I liked – and the place Hugh worked was one of them. So on a whim I went in to talk to him, thinking that he’d not tell me much seeing as I was the ‘competition’ around the corner.

Although, he was tired from working around the clock, roasting kilos of beans for the shop, he told me what he knew about cold brew and slow drip filter coffee. We talked about the different apparatus’s that were available, recipes and techniques. I could tell even back then how excited he was by it. To be honest, I was humbly surprised that despite the fact he had no reason to give me any decent information, he did. But that’s Hugh, through and through - generous and full of genuine enthusiasm.

Since then, I’ve gotten to know him much better and seen his career path grow immensely and I can’t say enough how cool it is to see a friend’s idea and business grow in such a huge way. He works super hard and is thorough. It’s very exciting.

Sandow’s Coldbrew, his new company, is the innovative idea that he and business partner Luke Suddards came up with that was the solution to the problem of how to make enough good coldbrew in high volumes, without compromising on it’s quality. Hugh’s enthusiasm for coldbrew has taken the company from a self-funded home built factory in a basement, supplying a few small cafes to raising £126,000 in less than 72 hours on a crowd-funding platform for a big new premises and facility! Meaning they can now keep up with demand, and stock in Selfridges and lots of cool indie places like Vagabond, White Mulberries and Iris & June!

His passion and humble attitude really shines through in everything that he does. He works hard at embodying the Eugen Sandow ethos (the man who inspired their brand name) – by always getting better at what he does, staying one step ahead by constantly innovating. He’s told me many times, not to be afraid of failing because in every experience he has learnt something valuable. So introducing new products and ideas like Nitro-Coldbrew on Tap, coldbrew g&t’s and initiating popular gatherings where like-minded people get together and hangout at “Maven” events is just the tip of the iceberg for them.

Recently, we caught up at Crate Brewery (near his new site) for pizza and beer and what I enjoyed most about hanging out with him was the discovery that he is a really active learner of a range of things. As he would put it - we “geeked out” about many topics– not just coffee, but business and real life stuff. It was super interesting to hear about his experiences, his views on work, about who and what inspires him and how he applies what he learns.

I’m always fascinated by the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s exciting to be around because you never know what’s going to happen next. I love that no matter how strange or difficult the idea, you feel that these types of people will find a way - that there is always a possibility. He’s shared some pretty cool stuff with me. It was only a couple of weeks ago, when I asked his advice on something and after giving me practical consideration, he finished by saying “Go with your gut - failing is good, don’t be scared to fuck it up, go for gold.” I did and it was bloody awesome. That’s typical of Hugh’s supportive attitude. He firmly believes in sharing and giving so I’m super stoked to be sharing him with you too.

He’s #4Real

Check it out.

(Throughout are interesting links that we have shared amongst each other.)