Bruce Garside started roasting coffee in his garage in 2013, testing small batches before Silver Oak began trading properly the following year. He now runs the roastery with his partner, Susanne Stent, from a unit in nearby Littleport, where three separate roasters range from a hundred-gram sample machine up to a full production model, and Bruce leads weekly cupping sessions to keep standards even. The public side of the business is The Yard, five converted shipping containers on Newnham Street with a coffee bar that looks towards the cathedral. Beans come through Mercanta, the importer known for tracing supply back to individual farms, and every cup is made to order rather than batch-brewed. The Yard was named Cambridgeshire's best independent café in 2024.
Surveyed