Meet the super women behind Tired Mums Coffee!

Sharing a passion for coffee and making things better for mums, Laura and Gemma decided to put their many qualifications and experience running busy NHS hospitals and other small businesses into creating Tired Mums coffee – a sustainable brand that support mums.

With four small children between them and day jobs in the NHS, the pair are perfectly equipped to understand the needs of busy mums, and how coffee and company can make the daily juggle a little bit easier.

Here they share their story with Pura...

Why did you start Tired Mums Coffee?

Our paths first crossed during our NHS careers and one day, over a conversation in a soft play centre with coffees in hand, the concept of Tired Mums Coffee was born!

We were both on our second maternity leave at the time and were noticing a lack of peer support for mums. We had also recently learned of a tragic suicide of a mother and decided that we wanted to make things better.

We’ve developed a deep love of coffee (partly due to sleep deprivation!) and spent many hours during our maternity leave having great conversations over coffee. From delirious laughter to tears of exhaustion, outings in the fresh air and the odd ‘poonami’, a good cup of coffee has been at the centre of our support.

Motherhood – especially if you’re brand new to it can be a scary and lonely place. How can coffee create positive change?

We believe that life is too short to drink bad coffee! The ritual of making a luxury cup of coffee and taking a few minutes to enjoy it can be a simple and realistic way of building some self-care into your day. Coffee also perfectly complements a good conversation with a friend. 

We’re using our coffee to deliver positive change in several ways and we’re always looking for new ideas and partners that will help us to spread the word and grow our small business. Here are some examples of how our coffee is making a difference:

• a percentage of our profits is donated to charities/not for profits who support mums
• our specialty coffee is regularly donated to groups that support mums
• we’ve launched a free virtual chat series with expert guests who are passionate about the wellbeing of mums
• our #mumsarefinecampaign encourages mums to share stories to help support others who may be struggling we carefully select suppliers and create partnerships with businesses who align to our values and care about the environment and sustainability

When mums are asked how they are, they will usually say they’re fine. But the juggle, the mental load, the anxiety, the guilt, the hopelessness and sometimes shame that all mums feel but rarely talk openly about, is something we believe should change. 

So, we’re asking our community to get involved in our #mumsarefine campaign by joining us at our events, sharing stories and ultimately raising awareness.  Seeing others’ stories and realising what’s normal, might help someone who’s struggling. Motherhood isn’t easy but we’re all in it together.

The campaign is for mums of all ages and backgrounds with children of all ages and backgrounds and we hope the campaign helps both present and future generations of mums. We’re excited to grow our campaign; we’ve created a dedicated webpage and you can find lots of examples of stories that have been shared so far on our social media platforms.

Apart from drinking coffee, how do you juggle working and motherhood?

We both have busy day jobs in the NHS so Tired Mums Coffee is mainly run during evenings and weekends (around bedtimes, taxi duties and the other things parents juggle!). But it’s our passion so we wouldn’t change it for the world.

We’ve learned such a lot on our journey so far and continue to learn new skills every day. When we experience bumps on our small business journey or feel a little overwhelmed, we try to remember to be kind to ourselves and reflect on how far we’ve come. 

It also massively helps that there are two of us, we have different personalities and skill sets that complement each other so between us we can find a way through most challenges. Ultimately, it’s our passion and purpose that keeps us going and makes the hard work worthwhile.

Let’s talk about coffee itself – how many cups do you drink and what is your favourite blend?

We’re all about delicious coffee and enjoy barista made coffee in cafés as well as the ritual of making luxury coffee at home. Gemma is partial to a latte whereas Laura will usually go for a flat white. Gemma (and her Mum Maggie) usually chooses our Nobody’s Listening to Me blend and Laura our Party All Night blend.

We also both LOVE our decaf blend, especially when we’re looking to reduce
caffeine intake but still want great tasting coffee. We both enjoy experimenting with different types of brewing methods and our kitchens are home to many cafetieres, AeroPresses, moka pots, espresso machines, grinders and more!

We carefully selected a UK based roastery who could meet our coffe requirements (there were many!) and spent 6 months working with a mum who’s a coffee expert to develop our own blends. Our coffee is Fairtrade and our decaf blend is mountain water washed – nothing but the best!

Is your brand sustainable and how important is sustainability to your business?

From the start of our journey, we agreed that sustainability is one of our top priorities. We carefully selected a roastery that puts sustainability at the heart
of what they do from how they source the coffee to how they support local communities.

We’re taking a responsible approach to how our coffee is packaged to minimise our impact on the planet for future generations, including our own children.

Our innovative packaging is made from LDPE4 (low density polyethylene) recyclable film and contains a valve for freshness. We recycle our coffee grounds in the garden and even make facemasks with them!

What’s next for Tired Mums Coffee?

We have lots of exciting plans and can’t wait to see where our Tired Mums Coffee journey takes us. We’re working on several new partnerships, expanding our product range, planning events, and spreading the word further about our mission so we can support more mums. 

You can sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social media to be the first to hear about what’s next.