Meet this week’s LDNER, his name is Colin Pyle, he lives in Notthing Hill and founded CRU Kafe. He started CRU Kafe because he had the desire the get the best possible coffee out of the Nespresso machines. By creating their own blends and designing compostable pods, CRU Kafe’s success was born.
Where do you live in London?
I live in Notting Hill, I love it because I have everything I need in the Notting Hill village – work, gym, great bars/restaurants and cafes…If I don’t want to leave, I don’t have to!
CRU Kafe is all about ethical, organic coffee, packaged inside eco-friendly Nespresso pods that are compatible…how did it come about?
CRU Kafe was founded in 2013 by myself and my two friends, Bodil Blain and John Quilter, from a shared desire to get the best possible coffee out of their Nespresso® machines. Not happy with what was available on the market, we decided to make our own – and after a successful Kick Starter campaign, CRU Kafe was born. Thanks to the success of our first blend, great support from our customers and countless nights spent licking stamps & labelling bags, we’re now a 15-strong company just off Notting Hill. We’re constantly investing in our product to bring you more fantastic blends, and just won’t be happy until all our packaging – from box to bag to pod – is fully compostable.
How do you come up with new blends, does London have an influence on it?
We’re constantly tasting new speciality coffees from all around the world trying to figure out what we will do next. For the most part we focus on customer lead innovation, listening to what they want and finding the right mix. Our limited editions are all about great taste accompanied by great stories – coffee is such a great way to tell fantastic stories and the world is not short of them, our customers like to go on a journey with us. London is arguably one of the leading cities in the world when it comes to coffee culture and we always have our ear to the ground on what is new and happening so we can have that in the back of our head when trying to make decisions for new products.
What are some of your fave London coffee spots?
I love Caravan and Workshop, however, when we first started CRU I was working out of one of our shareholders offices around the corner from Kaffeine, so that’s always got a place in my heart.
What would your perfect day in London be?
It would have to be during the summer, so nice and hot! I’m always up very early with my little boy and we’d go out for a nice early breakfast before everyone else in the world wakes up. The location has to have fantastic coffee – my favourite local is Bluebells on Portobello road. I’ll spend the day outdoors, relaxing and enjoying the weather at Paddington Recreation Ground, which is a fantastic park in Maida Vale. After the park, I’d stumble into a pub for a nice cold beer or two – I live close to the canal in Notting Hill, so I generally hit up the Union Tavern where I can sit on the outside patio overlooking the water and watch the world go by.