Skylark Coffee

Skylark is a Brighton-based specialty roaster that operates as a registered charity (no. 1142607), trading under OCB Initiatives, the charitable trading arm of One Church Brighton. The roastery describes itself as a 100 percent non-profit, fully transparent specialty coffee brand.

All profit goes to charitable causes. Skylark pays top specialty prices for the coffees it buys, then donates a further £1 per kilo to conservation and empowerment projects.

Current beneficiaries include the Knepp Wildland Foundation, The Stumping Project, Pro Baristas, and In Her Hands. A Probat roaster sits at the foot of the South Downs on the edge of Brighton, where Ben Szobody oversees the operation alongside project manager Micah Sherer.

Suppliers include the importers Falcon Coffees and Raw Material. Bags are illustrated by Jackie Morris with poetry by Robert Macfarlane, and all packaging except the largest sizes is plastic free, with further work underway to eliminate plastic entirely.