Our story
It started with one very good flat white.
Bean There opened in 2019 on a lane in Hebden Bridge that most people walk straight past. We wanted a coffee shop that took the coffee seriously and nothing else, where you could sit for an hour with a book or grab a cup and go without anyone making a fuss either way.
We roast our own coffee in small batches, rest it for five days before it goes anywhere near a grinder, and bake every morning. The shop sells the beans we are proudest of, the bakes that keep selling out and a few things made by people we know.
What we care about
Small batches
Twelve kilos at a time, roasted on Tuesdays, so nothing sits around getting tired.
Paid properly
We buy through importers who publish what farmers were paid. If a price looks too good, it usually is.
No fuss
No loyalty app, no QR codes on the tables, no twelve-syllable drink names. Just ask.
Six years, in five lines.
2019
The door opens
One grinder, a second-hand roaster that needed a new belt, and a queue of eleven people on the first morning. Three of them were family.
2020
Buns through the hatch
The year we learned to bake properly, because people kept asking. Cardamom won. It is still winning.
2022
The roaster gets a room
We moved roasting out of the back and into the old print shop next door. The whole lane smells like Tuesday mornings now.
2024
Mocha moves in
A cat arrived, assessed the window sill, and stayed. She is not for sale. People have asked.
2025
The shop goes online
Beans in the post, bakes to collect, and a website that we are rather fond of.
The people. And the cat.
Priya Shah
Owner and roaster
Started this because nowhere in town would do a flat white the way she wanted it. Still tastes every roast.
Tom Ashworth
Head baker
In at five, out by one, and responsible for the sixty buns a day that are usually gone by two.
Mocha
Window sill
Sleeps in the window, ignores the customers, tolerates the dog treats on the counter. Management.
