Our Story
Why Small Facet?
When buying a mirrorball, the first question you should always ask yourself is: ‘Is it small facet?’
Now you may be asking yourself, why? Or maybe you’re wondering why we’re talking about facets in the first place? Or maybe even, why can’t I just buy a bag of coffee?
Well, our two owners, Lewin and Fraser, have been obsessed with mirror balls for quite some time now, and whenever purchasing a new one, they would always ask themselves: ‘Ah, but is it small facet?’ See, a facet on a mirror ball is the piece of glass that gives the humble mirror ball its shine, its sparkle. The smaller the facet, the more you can get on one mirror ball. And the more facets you can get on one mirror ball, the more it sparkles and shines.
Very back in the day when Lewin and Fraser would hop on the decks to host one of their many late-night parties, there would always be common pieces of joy for everyone to experience. Always accompanied by good tunes spun from records, warm chats with close strangers and a sense of belonging to a community, a mirror ball would always sit in the room. Watching, welcoming, winking. The mirror ball had to sparkle as much as possible. They wanted everyone to feel that same sense of community and belonging and for every person to be seen. The mirror ball, the glistening heart of the party, being the perfect analogy. But, to get to a point where everyone at the party is illuminated by a facet, the facets must be small. The finer the detail, the brighter the light.
Fast-forward to today at The Homestead Cafe & Small Facet, Lewin and Fraser are still hosting their free parties and hopping on the decks, albeit less often. The company has grown with Chris, go-to coffee guy, and Renato, snarky vibesman. Good tunes still spun from records, warm chats with new strangers, and of course, the mirror balls all remain. But above all else, the welcoming community that once started in fusty flats has evolved into a thriving community all from a park café.
Coffee, People & Music
Coffee, People & Music have been at the heart of The Homestead Cafe since it opened in 2019. We believe that when you make something yourself, you see exactly what you’ve put into it. You know the level of detail, the care and the attention that has gone into creating that very thing. This idea is one of Lewin’s ethos; “Do it yourself, do it with pride, do it well.” Whether that’s our breakfast brioches, baked goods or pizzas, we’ve always kept our sourcing transparent and our creating in-house. After working with over 100 different roasters since opening, we decided the natural next step was to have that same level of detail and understanding of the coffee we sell to our community. So, in 2023, Small Facet was born. With a push from the coffee community after working closely with Falcon Coffees and being supported by Square Mile and Level Ground Co., we decided we wanted to make speciality coffee that we understood.
Our mission is to provide ethical and sustainably sourced speciality coffee to our community, whilst creating transparency about where and how your coffee has got from fruits on a shrub to your reusable cup.
Community isn't just a warm word we use, it's the same value applied outward to people that we’ve never met, from the farmers that grow the fruits to the people visiting The Homestead Cafe. We wanted to understand every step of the supply chain and make sure our role supported social, agricultural and environmental sustainability at each step. The coffee we source is transparent and supports all along the chain to those that grow it.
“Park cafes have had quite a bad rap for bad coffee, it's good to sort of educate in a non-patronising way, it should be accessible for everyone.”
Chris, Head Roaster & Head Barista
Coffee Tastes Like Music
By understanding how our coffee has got to us, we’re able to break down the barriers that hold people back from knowing the coffee in their cup. We want to make coffee accessible for everyone, and for us, the natural way to get more people into coffee is to describe it how we know best. Through music. Just like tasting coffee, music is a feeling, not a science. Those songs that just want to make you move or calm your nerves, that’s exactly what we want our coffee to give to you. We may not understand exactly what makes a piece of music so compelling, but we can understand our coffee enough so that it has the same effect on you. When you see our music breakdowns on the coffee you buy, it’s a suggestion of how this coffee should make you feel, because to us, coffee tastes like music.