Kaldi Returns for Christmas 2026: One Last Batch of a Paxton's Exclusive

Our coffee-matured goat's cheese is back for Christmas, but this time its return comes with a rather bittersweet story.

We're delighted to announce that Kaldi, our rather unusual collaboration with our Cotswold neighbours at RAVE Coffee, is returning to Paxton & Whitfield for Christmas 2026. But there's something you should know. This will be the very last batch of Kaldi as we know it.

Earlier this year, Anita Robinson and Philip Rainbow, the cheesemakers behind Pennard Ridge, retired from cheesemaking. Their wonderful Caerphilly-style goat's cheese has always been the starting point for Kaldi, so when we heard the news, we bought all the remaining Pennard Ridge stock we could. Since then, Jazz Reeves and our cheese care team have been carefully transforming these final cheeses in our Cotswold maturing rooms, preparing one last release for Christmas. They're now ready, and we're rather excited to share them with you.

The Story Behind Kaldi

Kaldi first joined our range in December 2023, following a collaboration between Paxton & Whitfield and RAVE Coffee, whose roastery is just a short distance from our maturing rooms in the Cotswolds. The idea was wonderfully simple, if a little unconventional: could we bring together two things we love, coffee and cheese, in a way that celebrated the qualities of both?

James Rutter from Paxton & Whitfield and David Webb from RAVE Coffee experimented with different cheeses and coffees, looking for a combination where neither would overwhelm the other. They found their answer in Pennard Ridge, a firm goat's milk cheese made in Somerset using a recipe inspired by Caerphilly. Its clean, nutty character provided a wonderful foundation for the roasted, fruity flavours of coffee, and Kaldi was born.

The name Kaldi comes from an Ethiopian legend about the discovery of coffee. According to the story, a young goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats became unusually energetic after eating the red berries of a particular tree. Curious about their newfound enthusiasm, he tried the berries himself, setting in motion the discovery of what would eventually become one of the world's most popular drinks. Whether or not the tale is true, we couldn't resist naming our coffee-coated goat's cheese after a goatherd whose curious goats supposedly discovered coffee in the first place.

The story doesn't end when the cheese arrives from the maker. In many ways, that's where our work begins. Pennard Ridge arrives as a young, unrinded goat's cheese, ready for Jazz and her team to begin the process of transforming it into Kaldi. First, the cheeses are carefully washed with brine, helping to establish the conditions for the rind to develop. They're then coated with coffee selected in collaboration with RAVE, before being left to mature in our specialist cheese rooms.

Over approximately ten weeks, Jazz monitors the cheeses as their texture, rind and flavour develop. The coffee becomes part of the character of the cheese, bringing roasted notes that complement its natural sweetness and nuttiness. Beneath its dark, coffee-coated exterior, Kaldi has a firm, satisfying texture and a wonderfully savoury, nutty flavour, with the coffee adding complexity rather than simply making the cheese taste like an espresso.

This kind of work is one of the things we love most about having our own maturing rooms. It allows us to take a carefully made young cheese and, with time, skill and a little imagination, develop something quite different. Kaldi is a particularly good example of what can happen when a cheesemaker, a coffee roaster and our own cheese care team put their heads together.

A Fond Farewell to Pennard Ridge

Pennard Ridge has been part of the Paxton & Whitfield story for many years. Our Bath shop first began selling it back in 2008, and it soon became popular enough to join the wider Paxton's range. Made by Anita Robinson and Philip Rainbow in Somerset, it was a distinctive goat's milk cheese with a fresh, nutty flavour and a texture influenced by traditional Caerphilly. Its transformation into Kaldi was perhaps one of its more unexpected adventures.

With Anita and Philip's retirement, the production of Pennard Ridge has come to an end. For Kaldi, that means the cheese at the heart of the recipe is no longer available. We're very glad we were able to secure the remaining stock and give it a fitting send-off.

Of course, we'd love to find a way to continue Kaldi in the future. Developing exclusive cheeses in our Cotswold maturing rooms is something we're particularly passionate about, and we're always interested in working with cheesemakers who share our enthusiasm for experimentation. Finding the right replacement for Pennard Ridge won't necessarily be easy, but we're certainly open to the possibility. If you're a cheesemaker reading this and think you might have something suitable, we'd love to hear from you!

For now, though, we're concentrating on enjoying this final batch for what it is. Kaldi has always been a cheese that gets people talking. Coffee and goat's cheese might not be the first combination that springs to mind when planning a Christmas cheeseboard, but that's part of its charm. It also makes a rather good gift for someone who thinks they've tried every cheese going.

We've got an exceptionally limited quantity available for Christmas 2026, and once this batch has gone, Kaldi in its original form will be gone for good. We're enormously proud of this collaboration, grateful to Anita and Philip for the wonderful cheese that made it possible, and delighted that Jazz and the team have been able to prepare one last release.

If you've enjoyed Kaldi before, this is your chance to welcome an old friend back to the cheeseboard. And if you've never tried it, we really would recommend making its acquaintance while you still can