We took a slight detour and ventured down to Long Beach today to meet Wade Windsor – one of the areas newest coffee roasters. Now in it’s fifth month – Lord Windsor Roasters is bringing comfort and conversation to an area which hasn’t totally caught on to the “slow coffee” movement.
Wade shared with us stories about the inspiration behind the brand and it’s iconic El Camino Real Mission Bell which are found scattered up and down the California Coastline. The bells are placed along the road not merely as landmarks and guides to travelers but as testimonials to the work of the Franciscan padres who were the pioneers that settled California beginning in 1769.
In the video above, we learn who the REAL Lord Windsor is & how Wade and started roasting coffee… making his own sausages and beer in the DIY spirit to save some cash. Along with his wife, the pair moved down from San Francisco to open Lord Windsor Roasters in Long Beach and have never looked back. Below, groove to Wade’s Spotify Playlist – compiled with songs overheard in the cafe, and a few of our own picks as well.
“One thing that I really wanted to feed off of this shop and represent – and one thing that really inspired me was old california – that merging of old california and new california and then even throw-back 60′s surf psychedelic california. I liked the merging of all of those and I thought the El Camino Real Bell really fit that well. It’s an old way of lighting paths to get to various monasteries and churches at that point by old franciscan monks. You still see some of them preserved on the 101 – but then there’s parts areas like San Luis Obispo and the central coast area where people are developing these huge areas of land that have been rural and remote for the last couple years and they’re finding these bells dug underneath the ground. So its a kind of resurfacing of something that’s old and almost forgotten but now they’re extremely valuable – It is something that I found really fit my identity and what I wanted to give off at the shop. ”
The coffee featured is a Honduras Microlot from the Juan Contreras Farm. Honduras hasn’t had the best reputation for coffe in the past, but boy does the tide seem to be a-swingin’. Some amazing coffees have been coming out of Honduras lately and this is one of them. Wade gets lots of guava, citric acid, and nutty sweetness. What about you?
Do yourself a favor and make a trip down to Long Beach, and check out Lord Windsor Roasters – Wade & Lindsey hope you feel at home as your sit at their lovely wooden bar and drink a thoughtfully prepared cup of coffee. It’s a fast-paced world out there – it’s nice to slow things down a bit.
