When it’s cold…or it’s wet…or you’re tired or hungover, there’s no way you’re going to run to the shops on a Saturday morning to get the ingredients you need to make a restorative brunch. And if you’re in one of those four states, you most likely won’t be heading out to eat somewhere either.
And, to be honest, even if you have all the ingredients in, wouldn’t it be nicer if there was an easier way to cook your Saturday brunch without too much effort…?
Thanks to the Epic Breakfast Company, there is – well, for part of Bristol, at least. Ollie Edwards launched Epic Breakfast Company in early November 2018, offering “pastries, juice, coffee and all the ingredients you need to cook an epic breakfast, delivered to your door”.
He initially launched to BS5, with plans to expand to the rest of Bristol down the line. But before the official launch, Ollie ran a pilot, both to ensure he had a test run and to get customer feedback, and we were lucky enough to be asked if we wanted to take part, in return for a 10% discount.
We were intrigued, and headed to the website to place our order…
What is Epic Breakfast Company all about?
Quite simply, it’s a breakfast/brunch delivery box, giving you everything you need to create a decadent weekend breakfast, delivered straight to your door. The focus is on top quality ingredients, with locality and sustainability at the heart of what they do.
It’s designed to save you time and effort (from a shopping point of view), and to be as close to zero waste as possible, with the promise of reusable containers that will be collected later on…
How do I order?
It’s simple. Visit the Epic Breakfast Company website, click on the button that says “Order now”, and get started. If they deliver to your postcode, you’ll be taken through to an order screen where you can select your delivery date (you can even choose weeks in advance – or subscribe for multiple weeks for a discount).
Now here’s where you select your options. Choose from a meat, fish, vegetarian or vegan breakfast box, for 1-2 people (£25), 3 people (£33), or 4 people (£41). Decide whether you want ground or whole bean coffee, and choose a delivery slot, plus a collection slot for Ollie to come and pick up the packaging.
What do the breakfast boxes include?
The contents of your box will vary, depending on which of the four options you go for – expect the following:
Meat – free range bacon, sausage, black pudding, egg & organic butter.
Fish – fried herring, free-range egg & organic butter.
Veggie – ‘chorizo’ and red pepper sausages, free range egg, Bury’s vegetarian black pudding and organic butter.
Vegan – avocado, ‘chorizo’ and red pepper sausages & Bury’s vegetarian black pudding.
Each of the four boxes also includes homemade baked beans, stuffed and roasted organic tomato, organic bubble and squeak, organic mushrooms, and a slice of sourdough bread per person. And if that’s not enough, you’ll also receive fresh artisan pastries (or vegan cake), local apple juice and locally roasted coffee, too.
It’s all locally sourced as well, with a sheet of paper inside the box listing the local suppliers that Ollie uses. Barley Wood Walled Garden, Assembly Bakery, Murray’s butchers and Matter Wholefoods are all on the list – it’s great to see such dedication to local produce.
Our box was delivered well within our allotted time slot…but what did we think?
Our verdict
It was Ollie himself who delivered our breakfast box, with a huge grin on his face and a beautiful wooden crate containing all of the ingredients for our decadent weekend treat. It was bloody heavy, mind – and the reason became clear when we unpacked it.
Many of the ingredients had been transported in glass containers with wooden lids – the apple juice in a glass bottle, the coffee beans and butter in small glass jars. The only waste was the tiny amount of wrapping on the slices of black pudding, a small piece of plastic dividing the meaty ingredients in their container, and the brown paper bag containing the pastries – even the slices of sourdough were delivered in a reusable beeswax wrap.
The box also contained a double-sided sheet of paper: a list of suppliers and ingredients on one side, and cooking instructions (including timings) on the other, making it even easier to prepare your breakfast.
The instructions were easy to follow, with minimal prep: all we needed to do was to make cakes from the bubble and squeak mix, take the wrapping off the black pudding and chop the mushrooms before cooking. In total, the breakfast took 20-25 minutes to prepare and cook – using all four rings of the hob, which kept the flat nice and warm…
We ended up with a decadent spread that kept us going till the Saturday evening…
There’s no denying the quality of the ingredients. The meat was packed full of flavour, the apple juice fresh and tart, the bread dense and chewy…it was all fantastic. The homemade stuffed tomatoes were a little too overcooked but their garlic and smoky chilli flavours were delicious, and the homemade baked beans were also lovely and smoky, with a far greater depth of flavour than your bog standard tinned beans.
Ultimately, it was delicious – and generous – and fully warranted the £25 price tag, which we weren’t originally totally convinced by. And the service was great too, with Ollie turning up bang on the allotted time on Sunday to collect the containers (which we didn’t even need to bother washing…).
It’s around the same price – or less – as you’d pay for a breakfast out for two – and while you do have to cook it yourself, you’re also guaranteed great quality produce and a hell of a lot less time – and shopping – than when normally making your own breakfast.
If you’re interested in trying the Epic Breakfast Company for yourself, visit their website to place an order – and remember to follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, where they’ll sometimes post discount codes…