It began with a small black bag in the post, unlabelled but packed to the brim with beans.

Like a modern day Jack and the Beanstalk, Martin Jeffrey carefully selected a handful and ground them, perplexed by the faint aroma that filled the air.

It was bourbon coffee, aged in wooden barrels and the scent was "incredible".

"I ground it, brewed it and it had this most amazing taste," says father-of-two Martin.

Instead of a fairy tale beanstalk, a magical brew appeared instead and grew into an idea in Martin's mind.

The beans had been sent over by a friend in America and although Martin kept a keen look out for them, they just never seemed to land on British shelves.

"So I decided to make my own," he says.

A self-confessed foodie, Martin, 44, had time for a project. After spending 17 years in stressful city jobs, he and his wife Lousie had quit the rat race and moved to Yorkshire to open an antiques shop and spend more time as a family.

"I just knew that Scottish whisky would be even better than bourbon," says Martin. "So I spoke to a few roasters and started from scratch."

The Jeffrey's started journeying around Scotland visiting distilleries, hunting for the perfect aged whisky barrels to hold their beans.

Each barrel had to be watertight and have spent its earlier life as a wooden guardian of Scotland's famous golden liquid.

"We found a few independent distilleries in Speyside who had barrels soaked in whisky for 60 years," says Martin.

"A local artisan roaster thought I was absolutely crazy but he gave me a huge bag of giant coffee beans to play with."

And play he did. After careful experimentation and much amused help from his children Owen and Flynn, the barrels were carefully loaded with beans and rolled each day to let each little bean become infused with the scent of whisky.

The first batch was made as a Christmas treat for the family and for friends, but word spread.

Some restaurants wanted to try it. Friends of friends wanted to buy it.

"It sort of went straight off from there," says Martin.

Within a few months, Edson Taylor launched, named after Annie Edson Taylor the American adventurer who at the age of 63 became the first person to go over the 167ft tall Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Obviously our links with barrels helped us with our decision to use her name for our company, but it was also her spirit that she was going to take destiny by her hands and go for it," says Martin.

In the last six months, the Jeffrey family's brew has been sold everywhere from America to Japan.

They're now making whisky barrel coffee chocolate too and are now on the hunt for a larger premises to cope with demand.

"It's been completely unexpected," says Martin. "We'd like to keep it artisan and handmade, the barrel has to be rolled each day so the beans are infused. It is a laborious task, but I like it."

Described as a taste completely unlike 'flavoured' coffee, the beans carry the notes of whisky instead without being overwhelming.

"I love the smell and taste of whisky, but its the 'kick back' that puts me off," says Martin.

"With barrel aged coffee, you get the subtle smell and taste without none of the harshness of the final product."

The family have launched a coffee campaign to help them get a larger premises in the short term and Martin's experimentation is far from over.

He's already tried his hand at making a cold-brew version and says he has seen some positive results when adding Baileys to the brew.

"It reacts to the cream and is absolutely incredible," he says with obvious enthusiasm.

"We've already had inquiries for brandy coffee too, but at the moment I think we'll just stick to whisky."