A new food and drink business has launched in Dumfries and Galloway, with mental health support at its core.
Farm Boy Brews is the result of a love of coffee and the desire to raise awareness and conversation surrounding mental health.
The brand launched on Thursday 10th October, World Mental Health Day, with its debut coffee ‘Depresso Espresso’. The coffee is available to buy online at www.farmboybrews.co.uk and in selected retailers across the region.
The coffee is a blend of beans from Brazil, Ethiopia and India, and was developed and roasted in partnership with Coffee Direct Scotland.
James, owner of Farm Boy Brews, decided to launch the brand after struggling with his own mental health on and off since he was a teenager, and the business was born after a particularly difficult lambing season.
He said, “Farming was my dream job, and there were so many aspects of it that I enjoyed, but a combination of the loneliness, isolation and the struggle of not knowing where the next pay cheque was coming from really took its toll on me. After farming since I left university, I decided in the spring of 2018 that if I didn’t make some changes, it would continue to send my mental health into decline.”
He continued:
“I still have a handful of sheep and I still do some farm work, but launching the coffee business has allowed me to have a life outside of farming and means I’m not solely dependent on income from sheep, which was always a bit stressful!”
A percentage of the profits from the sales of Depresso Espresso will be going to support the charity Tiny Changes http://www.tinychanges.com/
