How Aylesbury prisoners are getting redemption through coffee

Waddesdon Manor is partnering with a new coffee supplier Redemption Roasters, to fuel the thousands of people who visit the National Trust property each year.
Redemption Roasters coffee is being sold at Waddesdon ManorRedemption Roasters coffee is being sold at Waddesdon Manor
Redemption Roasters coffee is being sold at Waddesdon Manor

This speciality coffee company has people at the forefront of their caffeine-based mission by working with people behind bars.

After being approached by the Ministry of Justice to help address the state of reoffending in the UK, Redemption Roasters now operates a roastery and barista training centre at Aylesbury Prison, training young offenders in professional roasting and competition-level barista skills.

Up to 10 trainees are taken on at one time, ensuring each is given the opportunity to develop universally recognised skills and qualifications that will help them find employment upon release.

Max Dubiel, one of Redemption’s founders, explained: “As prison education workshops go, ours is one of the most exciting and delivers real skills which will help our trainees break the cycle of unemployment and re-offending.”

This social ethos, along with the fact that good coffee comes in close second on Redemption’s list of priorities, piqued Waddesdon’s interest in the brand. Following an official launch last week, the 80,000 cups of coffee sold from the Manor’s outlets each year will now contain Redemption’s Aylesbury blend.

Redemption coffee will also be served in Waddesdon’s boutique Five Arrows Hotel, a former Victorian coaching inn situated at the gates of Waddesdon Manor, which features an award-winning restaurant.

Using ethically-sourced coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia and Honduras, this signature blend features notes of cocoa, toasted nut and red berry.

Waddesdon is confident that their choice of a coffee which both tastes good and does good will please the 450,000 visitors to the manor each year, and in turn these huge visitor numbers make the organisation Redemption Roasters’ biggest wholesale client.

Rothschild Waddesdon Limited managing director Sara Sweetland, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Redemption and are thrilled to offer our visitors delicious coffee that not only offers employment within the prison, but more importantly provides young offenders with an invaluable opportunity that isn’t always easy to come by.”

Inclusion and community support has long been a core value for Waddesdon, having already supported an ongoing scheme in partnership with Spring Hill Open Prison, which offers inmates an opportunity to gain invaluable new skills through work experience placements.

HMP Spring Hill has recently become one the first prisons to house a Redemption barista training academy, and Redemption have ambitious plans to see expansion across as many of the 121 UK prisons as possible.