Dark Woods Coffee

Dark Woods Coffee was founded in 2014 by three people with deep roots in the coffee industry. Damian, the senior roaster and buyer, has spent years judging at Cup of Excellence and Best of Panama and built relationships with producers that opened access to sought-after micro-lots.

Paul co-founded Coffee Community in 1999, one of the UK's earliest coffee education and consultancy businesses, and co-wrote the City and Guilds barista qualification. Ian brings a background in community housing and development.

The roastery sits in a converted Victorian textile mill at Holme Mills in Marsden, at the foot of the West Yorkshire Pennines. Dark Woods is a certified B Corp with a score above 100, has accumulated more than 100 Great Taste Awards including three Golden Forks, is a Real Living Wage employer and a Good Business Charter member.

The roastery articulates a position it calls Beyond Specialty, arguing for higher farm-gate prices and greater transparency than the SCA score requires. Origins span Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Rwanda, Brazil, Panama, El Salvador and Yemen.

The Mill houses a barista training school and runs a seasonal pop-up cafe on the third Saturday of each month from April to September.