We speak to the co owners of Lagum Coffee Bar after their first weeks in business
Lagom Coffee House is the newest cafe in Newcastle, offering a series of brews you may not find elsewhere in the city. We paid the site a visit and caught up with co owners Charlie Doyle and Matthew Mitchell after two weeks of opening.
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00:00So, I guess first of all, how have the first two weeks been?
00:06Yeah, they've been really good. A lot, to be fair, it's been a lot busier than I expected.
00:11We've had a lot of the old locals here and we've had to do a lot of new pieces, according to the old staff.
00:18But, to be honest, I couldn't have asked it to be any better. It's been really good.
00:23Amazing. So, I guess as well, taking over from what was here before,
00:26how has that transition been for both yourselves and the people coming back in?
00:31I suppose, well, when we first took the place, we had a vision for it, as it is now.
00:37So, it was the first couple of weeks of renovation were obviously stressful, trying to get out, you know.
00:44Obviously, you want to keep serving people who are coming to the North, they come out and talk to you.
00:48Yeah, I mean, it's been fantastic. It's just been, like I say, loads of new faces and loads of existing customers still coming in.
00:59So, I don't suppose, I think probably both of us were a little bit nervous at first, thinking, you know,
01:06we've been shut for two weeks, is it going to sort of just kick straight off?
01:10And then we did our launch day on a Saturday, and that was just coming back full-staffed, trying to keep up.
01:18I think because we did get it open within two weeks, I think that's helped massively.
01:23It's kind of kept the old regulars, I think, if we'd kept it shut for a lot longer, then it would have been a lot harder to start.
01:33So, I guess as well, what is it that, obviously you've been doing things with coffee before, but what was it that made you want to open a space like this?
01:39So, basically, my history goes back many years in coffee, I suppose.
01:47I first started, well, I got into coffee when I was working in IT in Melbourne.
01:52And then when I was moving back to the UK, it was a case of speciality coffee.
01:58Well, maybe I had it in London a little bit, but it hadn't really spread much further.
02:03So, I did all my barista training and everything else in Melbourne before I moved back.
02:08And then coffee was just, similar to your background, I suppose, because I'm actually a bit older.
02:13But I was just a coffee enthusiast at home, and I visited a place in Manchester that was roasting in the background of the pub.
02:20That's where I want to go.
02:24I suppose opening the roastery for me was the first major risk.
02:29And, you know, again, I ordered the roaster and two weeks later, COVID hit.
02:35And I was like, oh, you know, you've got a massive machine on the way.
02:39But I think those years of COVID sort of helped us because everybody went home and was, you know, getting into making coffee at home.
02:47People were buying other machines.
02:49And that's how I met you, wasn't it?
02:51Yeah.
02:52Through being a customer and, you know, when things started opening up, doing coffee events.
02:59So, shortly when it came out of the army, Ken joined me in the roastery for a little while.
03:05So there was many discussions then about, you know, he wanted to open a coffee shop.
03:09And I was like, well, I'd love to, yeah, I'll join it.
03:12I'll go with you if the opportunity arises.
03:15And then probably sooner than we both expected, we were both like, well, there's an opportunity coming.
03:20So, you know, for me, it's a case of, I love the whole, the speciality coffee is from father to me.
03:30And then this was the last sort of step.
03:33But without Chai, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it because the roastery is where I am most of the time.
03:41So, you know, that's for me to see it go from green beans all the way through roasting to being served how it is in here is awesome.
03:50Yeah, so for myself about, I would say over the past five, six years, it's always been a dream to open my own cafe.
03:56When I was in the army before this, once I left that, it was kind of just pushing towards opening that cafe.
04:05And then I started working with a man at the roastery.
04:07And like I said, we had loads of discussions.
04:10And then probably about seven months after I left the roastery, this opportunity arrived.
04:16And yeah, I thought it was just too good to not get it here.
04:21So we just, I mean, what this place was before was awesome in itself.
04:26So it was just a case of, we've got a great little spot.
04:29It's, you know, got loads of, loads of locals.
04:33So it's just, we've sort of been able to piggyback off that and just be able to keep on growing like that.
04:39And I guess as well, obviously, with you not being from the North East necessarily,
04:42how has that been seeing or coming into a place where it was kind of like local business,
04:47really people trying to push their money back into life?
04:49Yeah, well, I'm originally I'm from the North West, but my other half is from Durham.
04:55So hence why when we moved back from Australia, I ended up being in Durham.
05:01So I haven't got the twang yet.
05:04I think I've hit the famous bit.
05:08You know, the coffee scene, the local coffee scene here is one of the things that we found,
05:14I found a bit frustrating because we've got so many great local cafe independents,
05:22loads of different roasters that, you know, we're still sort of battling against the big boy roasters.
05:30But for me, this is what a coffee shop should be.
05:35It's just like independent, locally roasted and just celebrating what different coffees are out there.
05:41Like I say, you know, the Ugandan coffees coming from the, you know,
05:45I know the guy whose son is working on the farms there.
05:48It's just, it's awesome. That's what coffee should be about.
05:52And hopefully people are now becoming a little more aware about where they're,
05:57they're not just drinking, you know, where food is coming from.
06:01People are starting to ask the questions about sustainability and, you know,
06:06that's hopefully we can answer those questions.
06:08Yeah, on top of that as well, like we try and bring everything in locally.
06:11So like our breads from Goldstein's Bakers, I think, along with a lot of our cakes, I would say.
06:16Block and Bottle Beats.
06:18Block and Bottle.
06:20So I think we've had massive support from all of the locals.
06:23It's been, yeah, quite overwhelming.
06:25Amazing. So first two weeks, what plans for the future now?
06:29I think we'll just keep going as it is for now.
06:32Yeah, well, you know, we did, we've talked about that just this morning when we came in.
06:36In the case of, you know, if it continues as it is, fantastic.
06:39But, you know, if we can, if we can grow it and look at possible other options.
06:45I think with this.
06:47You know, doing the education evenings and cupping sessions and that's probably the next step.
06:52Yeah, that's definitely the next step.
06:54Specifically is, I think, to begin with, we're going to start off with one cupping session.
06:58We're going to try and keep it properly roasted.
07:01And then we'll just look at bringing in the other roasters that we get from guests
07:05and doing more educational sessions, such as, like, Martial Arts programs.
07:09Or even just completely educational sessions.
07:13We're trying to keep that edge of fun to it.
07:15Because there is something about coffee that, you know, some people do is very snobby.
07:18And, you know, trying to pick out flavour.
07:21But, for me, it's just about people, you know, getting to experience what the different coffees are out there.
07:29Some wild and crazy coffees that come through the door.
07:33So, hopefully that's only somehow, really.