While coffee can’t grow in Great Britain, it can most certainly be roasted here.

Since freshly roasted coffee tastes even better than six-month-old roasted coffee, there’s a clear reason why you should be interested in UK coffee roasters.

Over the last few years there’s been a real boom in the British specialty coffee market including the amount of British coffee roasting companies.

Many of these artisanal roasters bring totally new and unique coffee flavours to the UK market and, for the most part, only sell very high quality coffee.

These are also the chaps to go to if you want Fairtrade, organic and eco-friendly coffee beans and filter coffee.

What’s so hard about roasting?

While many American brands of coffee will just say ‘medium roast’ or ‘dark roast’, there’s so much more to it than that.

Coffee can be roasted in so many different ways, with different flavours to bring out exceptional nuances and intriguing tastes.

Coffee roasting isn’t just a case of shoving some beans in an oven and setting a timer. If done well, it’s a finely honed art that takes months to get right with each roasting flavour.

Specialist coffee tasters and coffee roasters obsess over the finer details so that they can bring you the most amazing range of coffee, often via small batch roasting.

What’s small batch roasting?

Small batch roasting is the antithesis of mass-produced, mass-roasted, generic flavour coffee.

Because UK speciality coffee roasters are trying to create delicious flavours with each bean, they roast coffee beans in small batches to really get the most aroma.

Using real humans to use their real sense, these coffee roasters create coffees that are pleasing on every level.

Coffee roasting to order

One of the best ways to make the most of British coffee roasters’ skills is to use their roasting-to-order services.

The fresher the roasting, the better your coffee will take and so those coffee roasters who receive the order, roast the beans and then send them to you, will provide the most exquisite coffee that’s ever likely to grace your lips.

Do they only sell whole bean coffee?

Whilst buying your freshly roasted coffee in bean form and then grinding it yourself for same-day freshness is the ideal situation, the majority of people simply don’t have their own coffee bean grinders.

Good quality grinders are getting cheaper and you can take a look at our top coffee grinders here.

But it’s not a problem if you want to buy your freshly roasted coffee pre-ground. Most UK coffee roasters will let you choose whether you want it whole or ground, and then what grind setting you’d like i.e. extra fine for espresso.

Here is a round up of the benefits of buying from UK coffee roasters:

• Freshly roasted and usually delivered to you within a week or ordering
• You can choose the grind setting you want delivered
• A huge and ever changing range of flavours with unique nuances
• Supporting British industry
• Most UK roasters ensure their suppliers in poor countries are paid a living wage
• Often organic and Fairtrade
• High quality, small batch

Sold on UK coffee roasters? Now let’s take a look at a small selection of the best.

1# Union Coffee Roasters

Union is a British coffee roasting company who specialise in first-rate small-batch roast coffee. They pride themselves on excellent working relationships with their farmers and ensure that they’re paid the living wage. They sell a wide range of coffees, including single origin coffee and all are roasted to order.

Every one of Union’s coffees are rated above 84% on the SCAA scale, an international coffee quality scale. Their coffee is also hand-roasted which means human people, that’s right, real people involved in every stage of the process, ensuring that each coffee bean goes through the process correctly.

Union understand that each type of coffee bean needs different treatment and that’s why they specialise in small-batch processing. This allows them to judge and work on each batch meticulously to create the perfect roasting environment for each bean. Impressive? Sure is!

Get started with Union’s House Blend: Union’s House Blend

#2 Coaltown Coffee Roasters

Based in an old Welsh mining town, Coaltown Coffee Roasters opened their roastery in a town rife with unemployment and history. Far from heading to the nearest hipster city, they opted to stay in their hometown and give life to this dwindling population.

With high quality suppliers, an excellent ethos and truly delicious fresh roasted coffee, Coaltown Coffee Roasters are a company with a heart. They roast their coffees on Mondays and Tuesdays each week and if you order before 3pm throughout the working week, your order will be dispatched the same day. You know what that means? It means the freshest. Coffee. Ever.

Check out Coaltown Coffee Roasters at their website: http://www.coaltowncoffee.co.uk/

#3 Rave Coffee Roasters

Based in Cirencester in the stunning Cotswolds, Rave Coffee Roasters are a lively and popular company with a café attached to their roastery. They display all the information about their farmers. This means whenever you buy coffee from them, you know exactly where it’s coming from, whether it’s small community farmers or larger suppliers. With this kind of transparency, it’s easy to get behind this excitable business.

With services like coffee subscriptions, freshly roasted coffees, worldwide flavours and pretty cool packaging, Rave are a great company for those who want to try out British roasted coffee.

Order online or pop in and see them yourself in their Cirencester shop. Get started here with their signature coffee blend:

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#4 Hope and Glory Coffee Roasters

A small micro-roasters based in rural Lincolnshire, Hope and Glory are ideal for those looking for delicious company while supporting small business. With a wide range of coffees roasted in house, as well as a coffee subscription service, Hope and Glory will turn your post delivery into the nicest thing of the week.

With free delivery in the UK and letterbox friendly packaging, your coffee can be waiting for you when you come in from work. This little coffee start-up is definitely worth supporting and you can even buy brewing equipment from them too.

Check out their website here: hopeandglorycoffee.co.uk

#5 Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters

Straight out of the Scottish Highlands, Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters are a small-batch roasting company in the teeny village of Aberfeldy. They specialise in ethical grown coffee beans from all over the world. Countries of origin include Indonesia and Central America.

Glen Lyon also have a decaf coffee that is decaffeinated without chemical process. Instead it uses a mountain water method in Mexico. Their range of decaf and normal coffees is enough to keep you busy tasting for months too. Just like Rave, they provide all the information about the farmers who grew the beans.

Check out their website here: Glen Lyon Coffee

BONUS! #6 Dawn Roasters Coffee Co.

Number 6 you say! This is the top 5, but Dawn Roasters Coffee Co. is just too good to miss out!

Their single origin speciality coffee is perfectly roasted for everyday use.  Dawn Roasters Coffee Co. is an English company. They source the finest beans to produce an  “anywhere, anytime roast”. Their focus on quality is instantly noticeable too.  From the well thought out packaging through to the balanced taste of their coffee. To make your life easy they offer a coffee club service where by you get sent some of their delicious coffee on a regular basis. Ensuring you never run out! Perfect!

Got your coffee beans? Then Check out the best coffee machine to use them in! – Here