supplier spotlight –  MEET FALLEN TREE COFFEE TRUCK

27 May 2018

AUSTRALIAN-STYLE COFFEE AT SCOTTISH-STYLE WEDDINGS.

Here’s a question: if good coffee is so important in our day-to-day lives, why are we content with crappy hot water urns and ground coffee on our wedding day? Silence falls. Fallen Tree Coffee Truck are here to change all that, bringing hand-picked speciality roasts to your day to serve up like they do down under. Inspired by the coffee culture that the Aussies have nailed, Michelle serves the best coffee from the back of her Land Rover Defender which has been converted into into a barista’s paradise. Her ethos is that anyone should be able to have a great coffee, any time – and we are SO on board with that, sista.

WHO ARE YOU + WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

I am Michelle and I run Fallen Tree Coffee Truck, a speciality mobile coffee truck and bar based out in the rural Blair Drummond, central Scotland (which is most famous for formally being the home of lions and tigers and bears and lots of other African animals too).

I run a multi roaster mobile cafe, meaning we use an ever changing array of seasonal speciality coffees from all over the world from some of the Uk’s best and most loved roasters. As well as that, we have a super lovely selection of teas and freshly squeezed OJ from our famous old school onsite orange juicer (it’s a beast).

DESCRIBE YOUR WORKPLACE

In a wee haze of perpetual coffee and Fresh OJ aroma, my work place is pretty much anywhere and everywhere; town halls, stately homes and rustic barns, to Muddy fields, farmyards and crazy festivals. The only real constant for us is our truck…and boy do we love our truck!

When I started Fallen Tree Coffee Truck, it felt super important to create something that strongly represented who we were, where we lived and how we lived, as well as being functional for the task in hand: making shit hot coffee. We couldn’t think of anything more fitting than serving up the best flat whites around from the side of an old school white 110 Landrover Defender pick-up truck. It can literally go ANYwhere and EVERYwhere and look pretty damn great doing it – I never really get bored of looking at it.

Obviously, the laaarger than life truck doesn’t quite fit EEEEVERYWHERE, so I am mid way through getting my wood-working other half to build me a rustic wooden bar that looks as cool as our truck…watch this space. When I’m not busy at coffee events, my work place is at home with baby barista-and almost 3 year old-Flynn, who is the real operations boss. He’s quite partial to a babyccino, but we’ll get him onto the espresso soon enough!

WHERE/HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

I’ve always been pretty coffee obsessed, but it definitely kicked up a gear after living in Australia. The Aussies have the most amazing coffee culture. Trying my first speciality coffee there was a HUGE lightbulb moment of “Holy shit…coffee can really taste this good! I need to learn more and take this back home.” That was always the end game for me in some sort of form. After uprooting our whole lives on the sunny gold coast, we moved to Melbourne so I could beg, annoy and plead my way into being trained up as a barista in one of the coolest coffee Meccas in the world.

After making the move back to Glasgow I was lucky enough to get the opportunity of helping to start up and then eventually run the second location of one of Glasgow’s Iconic speciality coffee shops, Avenue Coffee, until the birth of our wee dude Flynn back in 2015. I learned so much in this role and it definitely helped sow the seeds and give me the tools for what is now my little country coffee business.

Moving back to the countryside were Flynn’s dad and I grew up, Fallen Tree Coffee Truck grew out of our love of defenders, carpentry, countryside and of course, coffee. Our ethos is: no matter where you are, you should always be able to get a ‘great’ coffee. Speciality coffee shouldn’t be something that is exclusive to the busy city cafes. Why should you have a crappy coffee at your wedding? It’s crazy when you think about it, especially for the discerning coffee lovers out there, which is an increasingly growing number.

FAVOURITE WORK TO DATE?

New to the wedding coffee industry, I cannot wait to showcase our custom stamped wedding cups for someone’s big day!

WHO/WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

I loooooove my job because it’s about so much more than the coffee – it’s also about the people that drink it. I love all the banter/chat that comes with it! There really is no better feeling than seeing the look on someones face when they have a really really great coffee where they’d least expect it; or even better, their first ever truly great coffee where they’d least expect it! To have this feeling at a wedding, the most important day of someone’s life, is a pretty amazing thing to be part of when you think about it.

DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY

A typical day for me is kinda varied – as well as running the coffee truck, I also help run our wood working business with my partner, Kris, as well as looking after the wee dude Flynnbo.

If I’m not out slinging espressos, I be running errands for Fallen Tree workshop (our wood working sister business, and where our truck’s name originates from), getting supplies, sanding wood, doing (fun) paper work, playing with Flynn’s dinosaurs (very important)…you name it!

WHERE’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO GO?

My favourite place in the world, hands down, is Crete – nothing beats the beaches, the food and the Cretans’ wild, free (and slightly crazy) spirits…and maybe a bit of the Raki too!

FAVOURITE WEDDING VENUE?

Being new to the wedding industry, there are soooooo many venues I’d LOVE to have our truck at. The truck would fit in pretty perfectly at a cosy barn wedding. Some of the weddings I am loving at the moment are Dalduff and Inchyra. I’d love to see us serving up some espresso and OJ there one day.

TRENDS YOU HOPE TO SEE THIS SEASON?

The continuation and growth of people moving away from the cookie cutter wedding mould. I love going to a wedding where the bride and grooms personally shines through and it’s all about the personal touches. Thats what makes it special for me. With my love of the countryside, I’d love to see bohemian, outdoors weddings continue – hopefully with the addition of great wedding coffee too 😉

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?

I’m pretty impulsive, which is great at times (like moving to the country, selling your flat…and randomly starting a wood working and coffee business). But, sometimes its nice to be reminded that it’s not a race, take your time and get it right. I try and use both mantras a bit more these day!