Our Story

This is a story of two adventure bikers-travellers that poured their hearts into a new business and started Whitley Bay’s very first speciality coffee shop. It was a long road from December 2018, to get the doors open in February 2020. And what a year to open a business!

G
December 2020

Still enjoying coffee and dreaming

G
November 2020

Lockdown 2

We are foced to close our doors again as lockdown 2 hits

G
March 2020

Lockdown 1

As COVID hits the UK, we enter lockdown 1

G
December 2019

Cafe Racer

The Cafe Racer, the masterpiece and the Coffee Machine arrive

G
September 2017

Visiting Nizhny Novograd in Russia

Back to coffee that we know, flat whites whilst passing through Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

G
December 2018

Keys for the property

The building work begins on Rustic Cup

G
February 2017

Introduction to 'sock coffee'

Riding through Indonesia drinking a filtered coffee called ‘sock coffee’ realising there’s more to coffee than Australia’s coffee culture.
G
August 2017

First coffee brewed by syphon

In Mongolia, our first coffee brewed by syphon. Just before we headed off to spend a week with reindeer Nomads.

G
February 2017

First shoots of growth

Seeing our first coffee plant growing wildly in Timor-Leste.

G
February 2020

The doors open

The doors of Rustic Cup finally open

G
March 2018

Introduction to Italian coffee

We flew to Florence in Italy to meet some pretty cool and knowledgeable people and learn a lot about coffee. We drank tons of espresso and fell in love with pour over brews.

G
November 2017

Time out in Slovakia

Getting to Veronika’s parents in Slovakia and wintering the bikes. We spent a long cold winter planning and researching our future business while drinking loads of Turkish coffee and doing some snowboarding.

G
March 2017

Meeting the Luwak on Gili Islands

A meeting with the Luwak on Gili Islands, the animal that creates expensive coffee beans.

G
January 2017

Australia Day 2017

Setting off from Perth WA on two motorcycles, heading towards the UK.