Girls Who Grain VS Guinness | What Stout Will You Choose?

JOMO members got a taste of something special and something a bit different. Keep an open mind, it may well be your new favourite! Serve ice cold for the best experience and let the rest do the talking. We have the pleasure of speaking with the Founder Casey to hear more about the amazing brand she has built.

Q: Welcome! We are so excited to introduce members to Girls Who Grind this month and to introduce your alcohol-free drink! Can we kick things off with an introduction to Girls Who Grind? Hi! I’m Casey, founder of Girls Who Grind Coffee. We are an independent, female-founded specialty coffee roastery. To drive towards a more equal industry, we source 100% of our coffees from women producers with the focus on visibility, representation, and celebration.

Q: What was the story and inspiration to getting you here today? I’m originally from Upstate New York, and I’ve dreamed of starting my own coffee business for as long as I can remember. There’s nothing I’ve ever felt more passionate about. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of my home filling with the smell of coffee brewing in the mornings. Later, while studying Sociology, I became deeply interested in producer relationships and the power dynamics within them. I started my career in a cupping lab and roastery, where I learned to cup and roast and assisted with Q-Grader courses. I really enjoyed working in a lab environment, but I came to realise two things: I wanted to work for myself, and I wanted to be more involved in green buying and building relationships with producers. After moving to the UK in 2009 and having my two daughters, I felt ready to finally start my dream business. In 2017, I founded GWGC alongside my previous co-founder. Coffee is a wonderful world, but it isn’t always fair or equal. At GWGC, we recognise the inequalities that women face in the coffee industry, and we’re committed to helping create a space where women feel seen, celebrated for everything they bring, and have their voices heard. That’s why we made the conscious decision to focus solely on buying coffee from female producers - sharing their stories with the world and giving them the recognition they truly deserve for their incredible work.

Q: We are coffee obsessed. Can you tell us about big supermarket brands vs small-batch coffee. Why is this different and what should we be looking out for? For me, the difference between big supermarket coffee and small-batch coffee goes far beyond just taste; it’s about people, transparency, and intention. Supermarket coffee is designed for scale. It’s often roasted months in advance to sit on shelves, which means it has lost a lot of its vibrancy by the time you brew it. The sourcing is usually quite anonymous too, using blends from multiple origins with very little information about who actually grew the coffee or how they were paid. It creates consistency, but often at the expense of quality and fairness. Small-batch coffee, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It’s roasted in smaller quantities and gets to you fresher, which makes a huge difference in the cup. But more importantly for us, it’s about traceability and relationships. We want to know exactly who produced our coffees, where it came from, and that they’ve been recognised and paid fairly for their work.

Q: Your coffee always showcases women coffee producers who make up 70% of the global coffee industry. Why was it important for you to showcase and spotlight women in this industry? When I first started looking into the industry and deciding on our goal as a roastery, I was struck by a massive contradiction: women contribute up to 70% of the manual labour in coffee production, yet they have significantly less access to land, credit, and leadership roles. It’s an industry built on the backs of women, yet they were almost entirely invisible in the global marketplace. For me, it wasn’t enough to just roast great-tasting coffee. I wanted to create a platform to help fix that imbalance. If women are doing the majority of the work, why aren't they getting the majority of the recognition? By choosing to buy solely from female producers, we aren’t just "spotlighting" them. We are actively shifting the power dynamics. We want to celebrate their brilliance and their expertise, not just their hard work. It's about making sure they are seen as the entrepreneurs, farm owners, and innovators they really are.W hen you buy from a woman producer, the money is also more likely to be reinvested back to her family and her local community, creating a massive ripple effect of positive change.