Our Annual project has been a few years in the making. Over the past few decades, we have produced copious paper newsletters that went from a one-sheet simple price list with tasting notes, to a full country list and origin profiles as we found ourselves with more to say. The one sheet expanded to some five or six double sided A4 pages stapled up and dotted around our shops. There was a lot of removing of staples for recycling when a new coffee came out and as we can have up to ten coffee changes in a month, a lot of maintenance and organisation of bits of paper. So, in 2020 we decided to retire that iteration of the newsletter and moved all of the farm biographies permanently online. And so, the newsletter started to become just that, a monthly round up of news at Monmouth. It helped us communicate our various goings on especially for our online customers who could not come into our shops to see and hear about it all for themselves. But something did feel a bit lacking, and that was when we first started thinking about the Annual.
Originally it was conceived as an almanac (think Wisden) but on the realisation that an almanac gives future fixtures as well as noting the past, we looked for another name. Journal and Collection were both considered and then, as it might (or might not) be produced annually, Annual was eventually chosen. In any case or name, we wanted to show in a tangible form the comings and goings of all the coffees we see on the counter across the year. We added farm biographies and photographs, the newsletters of the year and additional thoughts we had about some of our projects. It is a history of our year, with a bit of history of our own along the way.
Richard (our graphic designer) caught up the thoughts and sketches and turned all the ideas and information into something presentable. GF Smith helped us with our paper choices and Pure Print held our hands through the printing process. Speaking of which, the print is a CMYK Litho print, and is in itself intriguing. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black – the four inks that are used in the print. Physical plates are made on aluminium sheets, these are laser cut for each page, and on each plate one colour is spread. The ink covers the plate, the plate prints to a blanket (usually made of rubber) and the blanket prints to the paper. Each sheet of paper goes through each plate, and the colours combine to form the images and text that you see. It is a stunningly simple process that belies the skill involved to make it all work. Litho printing was invented over two hundred years ago and still has some unique advantages over digital printing, notably in the quality of imagery print. Our Annual has a lot of photography from our travels to origin, our roastery and our shops. The quality of the print highlights beautifully the equatorial light and our more subdued equivalent.
So, three years in the making and here we are with our Annual. They are available for sale in our shops and online here. It’s a diary of our 45th year, an aide-memoire, and a photo collection. It is lovely to hold a year and see it all in one place.
Best wishes for your year ahead, Monmouth x
