Wayne Lew and Jane Spindler opened North Tea Power in Manchester in 2010, originally a tea specialist operation, and quickly attracted a following amongst coffee lovers and coffee forum lurkers who were after their espresso. They grew to love coffee and master the preparation to become a specialty coffee shop and micro bakery. In 2018, they opened Mother Espresso in Liverpool, a daytime restaurant with excellent coffee that reflects their love for great food and drink and the culture surrounding it.
In the early years, Wayne and Jane wanted to learn everything they could about perfecting specialty coffee and welcomed introductions from their coffee forum friends. “They would introduce us to the good roasters who we’d then seek out and try as many as possible to educate ourselves.” They were looking for good coffee and a good relationship with their wholesale supplier and eventually met Dale and Roland from the Hasbean team.
“We chose Hasbean because they were open and friendly with us, and they roasted good coffee. We knew Roland before he was a roaster and that’s quite cool, knowing the person who roasts your coffee.”
As one of Manchester’s original specialty coffee shops, Jane and Wayne say they were initially inspired to open North Tea Power by a desperation for great coffee in their area. While opening their shop came with the expected, early challenges of building a following while pursuing excellence, today North Tea Power and Mother Espresso have buzzing communities visiting from near and far. Our wholesale team has supplied their coffee for over a decade and supported them with training and equipment, and they’re usually serving a rotation of two Hasbean single origin coffees—one dialled for black coffee and one for milk drinks.
Their coffee shop reflects an ongoing representation of the DIY movement. “We try and make everything around us, often with seasonally foraged stuff. The jams, pickles, ferments, kombucha, and cordials, bread and baked goods. Our customers like this about us; it's more like a little seasonal food spot but for breakfast and brunch and with good coffee. And Hasbean always helped support our growth.”