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An Edge of a Story

The Early Days

Nestled in amongst trees along a country lane, it’s a
pleasant escape to Edgcumbes, the home of EDGE Tea &
Coffee.

The story of the Edgcumbes Tea & Coffee begins in
1981. After a 20-year tenure in the Indian and African tea
trades, Frank Edgcumbe-Rendle returned to England.
After settling back into life in the UK, he was met with
tea that was no match for the leaves he and his family
had become accustomed to during their time abroad. Chris utilised his contacts and expertise of the
One morning, Frank and his son Chris sat down at the trade to break into the coffee market, Spending
kitchen table with some premium leaves and decided to time in America learning to blend and roast
blend their own loose leaf tea. recipes just outside of San Francisco.

Before long, Edgcumbes gained quite the reputation for Back then, the roasting technology you see from
excellent quality and taste around West Sussex, the likes of Giesen and Probat machines was
supplying a multitude of wholesale hospitality much more basic. Chris learnt the traditional
businesses. Going from strength to strength, Chris and way, using the senses to create the recipes that
his wife Alice became integral to the day-to-day running are now multi-award-winning blends. MARCH/APRIL 2023 | ISSUE 29
of the business, and they expanded their passion for the His methods are still used today in the quality
ultimate cuppa to include coffee.
assurance of the beans roasted in-house in their
Dutch Barn in Sussex.

www.beveragestandardsassociation.co.uk