Coffee roasters in Essex

Essex has 5 independent coffee roasters operating across the county, anchored by Colchester (H Gunton since 1929, Primo in a converted cattle shed nearby) and reaching out to Writtle (Mac & Me since 2013) and the wider county. The mix is unusually broad on age: one Essex business has been hand roasting alongside fine teas and speciality foods for nearly a century, while two others were founded in the last decade with very specific sourcing positions.

H Gunton Ltd is a family run food and drink retailer established in 1929, on Crouch Street in Colchester, hand roasting coffee alongside fine teas, cheese, chutneys, baked goods and speciality foods; coffee is one part of a wider delicatessen offer built over nearly a century. Primo Coffee was founded on Christmas Eve 2015 by three partners (twins Peter and James, plus Robert), with the roastery in a converted cattle shed on a farm between Colchester and Manningtree; the founders spent months cleaning and rebuilding the space before beginning production. The Coffee Officina was founded in 2013 by Marcella Fiori and Rory Lloyd, who brought design and hospitality backgrounds to the business; the roastery runs a Giesen W15A drum and Cropster software, with sourcing focused explicitly on cooperatives and female led farms.

Colchester is the easiest visitor stop, with H Gunton's Crouch Street shop a direct stop and Primo's rural roastery accessible by car. Writtle (Mac & Me) extends the radius into the Essex farmland.