London is the deepest specialty coffee scene in the UK, with 65 independent roasters spread from a Penge railway arch to a Hackney market site to a Holborn cafe. Variety here is the story. Single origin micro roasters work alongside heritage operations supplying hundreds of cafes. First wave Italian families, third wave Antipodean transplants, and second generation East African roasters all share the same city.
Caravan Coffee Roasters opened on Exmouth Market in 2010 and now runs seven London sites plus an outlet in Manchester, having largely defined the hybrid roastery and all day dining format that other operations now copy. Climpson & Sons has been on Hackney's Broadway Market since 2002, with B Corp certification and the kind of neighbourhood standing that takes two decades to build. At the heritage end, Drury Tea and Coffee was founded in 1936 by three Italian brothers and has been on Drury Lane since 1946, still roasting under family ownership nearly a century in.
If you are visiting, the geography clusters around four areas: Bermondsey for railway arch roasteries, Hackney and Dalston for the cafe forward operations, the City fringes around Shoreditch and Old Street for the larger names, and pockets of West London (Ealing, Chiswick) for newer arrivals. Most run open cuppings or roastery tours. Ask before you go.
Three roasters that illustrate the breadth of the local scene. Selected on editorial criteria, not commercial relationship. See our editorial standards for how we choose.
Caravan Coffee Roasters opened on Exmouth Market in early 2010, founded by Laura Harper-Hinton, Miles Kirby and Chris Am...
Defined the hybrid roastery and all day dining format.
Climpson & Sons has been part of the Broadway Market scene in Hackney since 2002, when founder Ian Burgess moved from a ...
B Corp, on Hackney's Broadway Market since 2002.
Drury Tea & Coffee was founded in London in 1936 by three Italian brothers, beginning as a tea blender before turning to...
Italian founded 1936, on Drury Lane since 1946.
Simone and Roberto met working in a London restaurant in 2006 and launched 80 Stone in Croydon in 2012. Simone finished ...
A Big O Coffee is an independent UK roaster and blender that has been trading since 2019 (Companies House number 1207357...
Anne and Joe O'Hara came back from a backpacking trip around Central America in 2000 and spotted a gap: nobody was doing...
Altitude Coffee London is a small-batch speciality roastery based in Unit 2, 190 Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, run by fou...
Andronicas has been trading since 1979, supplying coffee alongside commercial espresso machines from a Shoreditch base i...
Angelucci Coffee is one of the longest running coffee businesses in Britain. Alfredo Paulo Angelucci founded the company...
Assembly Coffee was founded in 2015 in Brixton, south London, growing directly out of a six-month consultation process w...
Balance Coffee was launched in April 2020 by James Bellis, who pivoted to coffee after a planned restaurant could not op...
BeanBear is a London based roaster shipping freshly roasted coffee, loose leaf tea and hot chocolate directly to homes a...
Black Sheep Coffee is a London-headquartered specialty coffee chain and roaster, with cafes across the UK, US and Middle...
Brown Bear Coffee is a Cambridgeshire-based UK roaster trading as Magic Beans Trading Limited, with a contact address at...
Campbell & Syme was founded in 2012 by Joe Syme after a trip to Portland, Oregon, where the city's coffee scene, and Stu...
Capital Coffee Roasters is a family-run roaster, wholesaler and commercial equipment supplier based in South West London...
Caravan Coffee Roasters opened on Exmouth Market in early 2010, founded by Laura Harper-Hinton, Miles Kirby and Chris Am...
Carnival Coffee Roasters operates from a workshop in Penge, South East London, roasting speciality coffee and selling it...
Catalyst Coffee Roasters has been operating from Grays Inn Road in Holborn, London for over ten years, running both a ro...
Climpson & Sons has been part of the Broadway Market scene in Hackney since 2002, when founder Ian Burgess moved from a ...
Cricklewood Coffee Roasters is a small-batch specialty roaster and cafe in north-west London, founded in 2018 by James. ...
Curious Roo is a specialty coffee roaster and wholesale supplier based at 11 Power Road, Chiswick, west London. Founders...
Dark Arts Coffee is a London specialty roaster based on Rosina Street in Homerton, where the headquarters combines roast...
Doppio Coffee Warehouse is a London-based coffee company founded in 2010, operating across four retail sites in Muswell ...
Drury Tea & Coffee was founded in London in 1936 by three Italian brothers, beginning as a tea blender before turning to...
Electric Coffee Co. is a London roastery with a cafe at 40 Haven Green in Ealing and additional sites at Goldhawk Road, ...
Element Coffee is an independent roastery and cafe at 236 Northfield Avenue in Ealing, West London. The founders fitted ...
Elsewhere Coffee is a South East London roastery and brew bar based at Unit 3 Titan Business Estate, Ffinch Street, Dept...
Firebird Coffee Company is a small batch speciality roastery based at 71 to 75 Shelton Street in central London, founded...
Grind is a London coffee company that grew from a single Shoreditch cafe, opened in 2011, into a B Corp certified roaste...
Hayman Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster founded in 2014 by Antonio, who left a corporate career after a visit to a B...
HEJ Coffee, pronounced 'hey' after the Swedish word for hello, was founded by Jeremy and Mathew after Jeremy's coffee to...
Hermanos Coffee Roasters was founded in 2018 by brothers Victor and Santiago Gamboa with Adnan Millwala, starting as a W...
H.R. Higgins is one of the oldest independent coffee roasters in Britain, founded by Harold Rees Higgins on 1 April 1942...
Kiss the Hippo is a London specialty roaster that opened its roastery in 2018 and has built a strong sustainability posi...
Lomond Coffee is a female-owned independent roastery based in South-East London, run by a small, hands-on team. The roas...
Long & Short Coffee is a Walthamstow roaster trading under the strapline Always Single Origin. The team is led by founde...
Markus Coffee opened at 13 Connaught Street, London, in 1957 and has traded continuously from the same address ever sinc...
Meletius is a speciality coffee roastery based at Wembley Commercial Centre in London (HA9 7UR), with a cafe at 37-39 Hi...
Mission Coffee Works is a specialty coffee roaster based in East London. The business started as a street coffee van in ...
Monmouth Coffee is a long-standing London independent that has been roasting and retailing from its Covent Garden shop s...
Mont58 Coffee is a certified B Corporation based in South-East London, founded by husband-and-wife team Shai and Maya. T...
Mr Tinto is a Croydon roastery founded in 2017 by Francisco, a Colombian who started by selling coffee from a bicycle ou...
Notes is a London coffee business co-founded in 2010, with co-founder Fabio building close ties with producers who pract...
Nude Coffee Roasters has operated from Hanbury Street, in the Spitalfields stretch of east London, since 2008. The flags...
Old Spike Roastery was founded in Peckham in 2015 by two childhood friends, with a mission to roast specialty coffee whi...
Pact Coffee was founded in 2012 by Stephen Rapoport and started life trading as Your Grind before becoming Pact. The bus...
Perception Coffee is a South London specialty coffee roastery with a stated community mission. Alongside selling coffee,...
Perky Blenders is an East London specialty coffee roaster based at Unit 10, Acacia Business Centre in Leytonstone. The r...
PLOT Roasting is a London specialty coffee roaster, founded in 2019 and built around a stated mission to source and roas...
Redemption Roasters is a London coffee company with a social mission at its core: training people leaving prison with ba...
Roastersaurus is the dinosaur-themed coffee brand of Sense It London, the East London training school in Stratford run b...
Roasting Plant is an American-born coffee concept with five London cafes, in Gracechurch Street, London Bridge, The Stra...
Sea Island Coffee was founded in 2007, in the wake of the Third Wave coffee movement, and grew out of a sister business ...
Square Mile Coffee Roasters was founded in 2008 in East London by James Hoffmann and Anette Moldvaer, both former World ...
The Roastery at Tate is a specialty coffee operation based within the grounds of Tate Britain in London. Started in 2011...
Terrone is a speciality coffee roastery based in Tottenham, North London, founded in 2011 with a specific argument to ma...
The Ethiopian Coffee Company is a London business focused exclusively on Ethiopian coffee, run from a cafe at 61 Amwell ...
The Gentlemen Baristas was founded in London in 2014 by Henry Ayers and Edward Parkes, drawing on the heritage of the Lo...
The Proper Coffee Co is a UK speciality coffee roaster, roasting in small batches to order. The range covers single orig...
The Roasting Shed began with the founders roasting coffee in their garden shed, driven by a love of drinking and sharing...
Union was founded in 2001 in east London by Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz, two scientists who encountered the America...
Vagabond Coffee Roasters has been roasting in north London since autumn 2014, working from a 5kg Giesen and supplying th...
Volcano Coffee Works was founded in West Dulwich by New Zealand-born chef Kurt Stewart, who started by serving espresso ...
Watch House was founded in 2014 by Roland Horne in a converted 19th century watch house on Bermondsey Street in South Lo...
Weanie Beans has been sourcing and roasting coffee since 2007. The roaster works on a direct trade model, paying above w...
Wood St Coffee Roasters grew out of a weekly market stall at Wood Street Indoor Market in Walthamstow, where founders Cl...
Workshop Coffee is a London specialty roaster running an integrated model across sourcing, roasting, cafe operations, wh...