Matthew Wade has been roasting coffee for over 18 years. After graduating in Fine Art, Matt moved to New Zealand where he worked as a barista at a number of different coffee houses and roasters, across the North and South islands. Bringing this knowledge back with him to London, he played a leading role in the rapidly emerging coffee scene that began ascending in the city from 2002 onwards, becoming one of the UK’s first licensed Q-Graders and a graduate of LA’s Coffee Chemistry. He was a key speaker for SCAE at London’s Olympia and was 4th place runner up at SCAE Coffee and Good Spirits 2008; 2nd place runner up in the Roasters Guild Competition in Portland 2009, a British representative and judge, 2010 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence; a sensory judge at the 2012 U.A.E B.C and a coffee quality judge for the 2013 Ecuador international coffee Expo. Matt has held a number of roles centered around the art of coffee roasting, including Matthew Algie, Bullet Coffee and was head roaster for Union Hand Roasted from 2007 to 2012 and Coffee Planet from 2012 to 2015. He is a co-founder of Nightjar Coffee in the Middle East  – a leading specialty roaster and green supplier at the forefront of an emergent coffee market.