Our Coffee Origins
A guide to the coffees we love to roast, written for the people that we love to roast them for.
How we source our coffee:
Getting a coffee bean from plant to cup is a long process requiring many hands, and our philosophy is centred around ethical sourcing and supply chain traceability for all involved.
Sourcing our coffees via green import partners and direct trade relationships year after year has been vital to founding strong and stable partnerships based on mutual trust.
For this reason, we are now working with a limited number of origin countries and building upon the relationships we have established with coffee producers, co-operatives and import partners in the regions we source from.
Defining single origin:
Coffee-producing countries are home to several regions with unique varietals, growing conditions, microclimates, farming practices and processing methods - making it impossible to define a single origin by country alone.
Roasting coffees from different regions in select countries helps us highlight subtle differences in flavours and characteristics that vary from region to region, cooperative to cooperative, farm to farm.
Through this approach we aim to showcase the diversity that exists within origins, while helping our customers explore and appreciate the many factors that contribute to coffee's uniqueness.
7 Countries of Origin
1. Colombia
One of the world's most famous coffee-producing countries, home to the globally recognised coffee character Juan Valdez. Microclimates in Colombia's 17 coffee-growing regions give way to a wide variety of flavour profiles, with harvests occurring throughout the year.2. Peru
An emerging South American origin, quickly making a name for itself in the speciality coffee world. With growing regions primarily located in the high altitudes of the Andean mountains, Peruvian coffee comprises several high-quality varietals offering huge flavour diversity.
3. Brazil
The largest producer of coffee globally, Brazil is forecasted to yield 67.1 million 60kg bags of coffee in 2023/24. Small batch coffee continues to gain momentum in Brazil, with many more farmers exploring sustainable production as they shift their focus from quantity to quality.
4. Burundi
Coffee plays a hugely important role in Burundi's economy, supporting roughly 40% of the country's population. The sector is characterised by smallholders who have gained a reputation for producing high-quality coffees with unique flavours, despite facing significant challenges that have led to declining production levels.
5. Ethiopia
The birthplace of coffee and home to the Legend of Kaldi (the tale of a goat herder who first discovered coffee plants), Ethiopia's close proximity to the equator provides the ideal climate for coffee growing. While Ethiopia produces more coffee than any other country in Africa, the country's auction system has prevented direct trade relationships with Ethiopian farmers being developed until recent years.
6. El Salvador
Once the 4th largest producer of coffee globally, the struggles faced by El Salvador throughout the late 1900s negatively impacted its fast-growing coffee sector. Today, coffees from El Salvador remain among the most sought out around the world, and throughout 2023, over £10.5 million will be invested into coffee plantations across six of the country's key growing regions.
7. Nicaragua
Renowned for producing shade-grown arabicas, preserving Nicaragua's forests is top priority for the country's primarily small-scale farmers. Producers in this origin have continued to show resilience through adversity, rebuilding the damage and destruction caused by natural disaster, revolution and civil war.
