CLO Coffee (Cielo Roastery Limited)

CLO Coffee was founded in 2008 by Nick and Linda Castle, who set out to swap career dissatisfaction for a social business built around specialty coffee. Linda is co-founder and head roaster, working on a Probat to produce a range of single-origin coffees from Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Peru, Guatemala and Bolivia.

The roastery once ran its own cafes but now focuses on supplying homes and venues across the UK, with a separate Church Coffee location and a wholesale arm at clotrade.co.uk. CLO has invested in a producer-side project called The Coffee Station Kisinga in the Rwenzori Mountains of West Uganda, building processing infrastructure with a grower named Vic to improve farmer returns.

Packaging choices are deliberate: paper-lined take-out cups that are home compostable and pulpable, aluminium-free and 100% recyclable PP4 coffee bags, and recyclable tea boxes with home-compostable inserts. The range also includes teas and chocolate alongside the coffee.

CLO highlights great taste and fair trade practices in its values, though no formal Fairtrade, organic or B Corp certifications are claimed on the site.