By Debbie James

A Welsh dairy farm is to provide all the milk for the first Newport Coffee Festival.

Lawrence and Izabela Hembrow, who run Mead Farm Foods at Redwick, near Magor, will supply 600 litres of fresh milk.

The couple wanted to get involved with the Newport Coffee Festival as soon as they saw it advertised.

“We expect to have to provide 600 litres for the day which equates to about 20 cows' worth of milk,’’ said Izabela.

“We’re pleased to be supporters as both us and the coffee businesses taking part offer sustainable products and to talk about our 'fair trade' milk.”

The event, she added, was an opportunity to promote Mead Farm milk to speciality coffee makers.

"The ‘fair trade coffee beans’ term is used a lot as a marketing point in coffee industry but not necessarily fair trade milk,’’ said Izabela.

"I’m personally a big fan of coffee and when purchasing a flat white I can’t resist asking about it. I heard long stories about the coffee beans and the fact that people harvesting them are paid fair rates. But when it comes to milk, sometimes the person behind the counter doesn’t know much about where it comes from and if it’s from a sustainable dairy farm.’’

She insisted that milk deserves better treatment.

Newport Coffee Festival is being held on Saturday, August 11, at Newport Indoor Market. Tickets are £4 and proceeds from ticket sales will go to Project Waterfall.