About Martin Carwardine & Co
Martin Carwardine & Co is a local family business situated at the foot of the Mendip Hills in the small hamlet of Upper Langford. Since 1866 and with five generations of expertise, in specialist coffee roasting, our foremost aim is to provide the finest fresh beans with a personal service.
We select and import coffee grown around the world and roast on site, the traditional way - by hand, at Upper Langford providing a wide variety of truly fresh coffee. We carry a wide diversity of coffees to enjoy with at least sixteen selected originals and around twenty five standard blends available.
In addition to offering Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certified coffees and teas, we have achieved certification from the Soil Association and now offer a range of Organic coffees.
As well as producing the freshest coffee, we now manufacture our own unique 'Somerset Tea' teabags complimented by an extensive selection of fine leaf teas.
Being agents for CMA Astoria, Coffeetek, Bravilor, Marco and ECM coffee machines, enables us to provide the correct solution to your company needs and requirements. To support you we have a team of five trained engineers providing an effective service solution.
We offer training, help and advice to help maximise your beverage potential, be it at your premises or using our dedicated training facility at the Roast House.
Five generations 1866-2006
Edmund Cawardine
Born 29 June 1842 at Thornbury, Glos, tea dealer of 15 Hotwells Road, later residing at 43, Bellevue Crescent, Bristol. Tea, at this time, was very fashionable, and also very expensive. Records show that he was the first member of the Carwardine family to move from the agricultural way of life to the city of Bristol; he commenced trading in tea in 1866. His son was
Stephen Ernest Carwardine
Born 24 April 1874 at 43, Bellevue Crescent, Bristol, Coffee and tea dealer. He introduced the Tea Rooms for which Carwardine's became famous, notably at 18, Baldwin St, Bristol which accommodated 400 customers! He was apprenticed to Phillip Lloyd, tea and coffee merchant, of Bristol, whose business had been started in 1777, which he subsequently purchased. It is thus that Carwardine's can trace it's roots back to this date. He was also one of the three people responsible for the creation of the Bristol Evening Post newspaper. He died in 1947; his some was
Stephen Titley Carwardine
Born 27 April 1910, Coffee and tea merchant. Chiefly to be remembered for his work in the years of World War Two, when huge efforts were made using the Carwardine Coffee and Tea Rooms (4 in Bristol) to feed the local population, as these establishments largely escaped the bombing, unlike many others. As a Chartered Accountant, he also saw through the incorporation of Stephen Carwardine & Co Ltd, following the enactment of the Companies Act in 1935. He died on May 3rd 1980, leaving his son
Christopher Stephen Carwadine
Born 9 May 1938, in Bristol, Coffee & tea Merchant. He introduced the concept of the High Street Coffee House, and saw the company grow to it's largest, when it had 38 branches. He directed the company until 1991, when the company was placed into receivership by it's bankers, during one of the frequent "bust" periods that were then prevalent. He continued in the coffee house trade, however, with the help of his family, and in October 2006, bought back some of the old company's businesses, and also the old company trade marks. His son is
Martin Stephen Carwardine
Born 22 April 1965, in Guildford, Coffee roaster & tea merchant. He worked for Carwardine's directing it's wholesale division until it's demise in 1991, when he set up his own business, Martin Carwardine & Co, supplying hotels and restaurants in the West of England with coffee and tea. He now has a very successful wholesale business, based just outside Bristol, and supplies Carwardine's, amongst many others, with it's coffee and tea requirements. He has two sons Jack and James