An Interview with Bryn Frere-Smith: Coffee, Justice, and Following Jesus.

Bryn Frere-Smith is the founder of Blue Bear Coffee, a social enterprise that donates 100% of its profits to human trafficking and anti-slavery charities. Bryn is passionate about justice, poverty and living out the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 25. I first came across Bryn speaking passionately about both justice and coffee. We’ll come to justice shortly, but my first question for Bryn was about coffee!  

What is your go-to coffee order when you’re out, and what do you make for yourself when you’re at home? 

Oh wow – great question! If I’m out, I’ll usually order a flat white, sometimes a cortado, or maybe a pour-over if I’m in a really special coffee spot. 

When I’m at home, that’s my chance to explore a whole variety of coffees from my collection, so it has to be brewed black — either on a V60 Switch or with a Chemex. 

And just like that… I’ve lost half of your readership. 

Can you tell us about your journey to setting up Blue Bear Coffee Co.? 

As you can probably tell, I’m a bit of a coffee enthusiast — but coffee has only ever been the vehicle for us at Blue Bear. The heart of our mission is to interrupt the cycle of abuse that affects millions of children and young people around the world. 

People are often shocked to learn that there are an estimated 50 million people living in slavery today, and one in four of them are children. 

My background isn’t in coffee or hospitality, but in policing. I served with Norfolk Constabulary and later the Metropolitan Police Service. Over time, I became frustrated by what felt like my inability to make a meaningful, lasting difference. 

It often felt like being a firefighter — turning up to put out a problem, only for it to reignite as soon as we left. Unless you address the deeper causes of crime — poverty, inequality, social breakdown — you’re just spinning your wheels. 

After leaving the police, I spent the next ten years working at two extremes. On one end, providing close personal protection for high-profile individuals; on the other, investigating human trafficking and protecting children at risk of exploitation. 

One role took me to the Dominican Republic, where I spent a year working as an investigator for a Christian anti-trafficking organisation, focusing on the commercial sexual exploitation of children. That Christmas in 2017, I encountered a young girl who was being trafficked by her mother. We were able to remove her from that situation, and she asked my colleague if she could take with her a tatty old blue teddy bear. 

That moment led to the creation of a support fund to help cover rehabilitative costs for children leaving exploitation. To sustain that fund, we created Blue Bear Coffee Co. 

And the rest, as they say, is history. 

(Scroll to the bottom to watch a short video about the origins of Blue Bear Coffee Co.) 

If you could suggest ways for individuals or churches in the UK to engage with justice, mercy, and poverty, what would you encourage? 

Do what’s in front of you. Look at your geography, your community, your career, your interests — and start there. Rarely does one need a passport to do justice. 

Fostering a child or volunteering at a foodbank requires very few vaccinations. Overseas work matters too, but it should be approached with an expectation of personal cost and sacrifice. 

God’s heart is for those in poverty. If we miss that, we’re following a different faith — a convenient version that strains out the gnat and swallows the camel (Matthew 23:24). 

Matthew 25:45 is foundational for me: 

“Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” 

Our call is to love God — and Jesus tells us that loving God looks like loving the least.  

Is there anything else you’d like to say to Christians in the UK today?!  

I’ve been reflecting on Jesus’ words in Matthew 10: “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  

That feels increasingly relevant in a time of cultural and political division — even within the Church. Both sides of the divide often claim truth and certainty, but this kind of conflict has always marked God’s people. If we strip away our partisan instincts and return to the core of the faith, Jesus makes it clear that the greatest commandment is to love God — and in Matthew 25, he tells us exactly how to do that:  

Feed the hungry.  
Welcome the stranger.  
Clothe the poor.  
Care for the sick.  
Visit the imprisoned.  

That’s a pretty good roadmap to follow.  
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Find out more about Blue Bear Coffee Co. on their website: www.bluebearcoffee.com and check out this short video from Bryn about the Blue Bear story!

*Opinions expressed in guest posts are those of the author, and do not represent any official position held by Jubilee+.*