What Are The Best Specialty Coffee Roasters in London?

London has an incredible specialty coffee scene that rivals any city in the world. But with all that choice, it makes it difficult to know just who the best coffee roasters are in London.

Some of the best coffee roasters in London include Ozone, Assembly, Kiss The Hippo, Union, and Square Mile.

In no particular order, we have a list of our seven favourite coffee roasters roasting the best coffee beans in London. We provide you with a little background on each roaster along with what they have to offer this year.

Make sure to also check out The Best Coffee on Amazon UK for even more options.

Ozone

Ozone coffee roasters started life in New Zealand but found its way to London a short time afterward. They currently roast at two locations within London, one on Emma Street and the other on Leonard Street.

Ozone offers a wide range of different coffees from around the world that start at only £7 for a 250g bag. They also offer 1kg and 2kg bags for customers.

You’ll find plenty of coffees from the Latin American countries as well as some unexpected offerings from the likes of India.

Choose either a single origin or blend, depending on your preference and the style of coffee that you’re brewing. Ozone offers all of their coffees as either whole bean or as ground to suit whichever brewer you like using most.

If you’re feeling like you need a surprise, or you just can’t decide due to the sheer array of coffee beans on offer, the company also has the option of a Lucky Dip for both filter and espresso.

Ozone also offers a wide range of coffees as part of their subscription service. Select the quantity of coffee that you want along with a frequency that best suits you (weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly), and Ozone will take care of the rest. No more worrying about running out of coffee.

Assembly

Assembly coffee roasters is an award-winning coffee roastery founded in 2015 that is now based on Ferndale Road in Brixton.

Assembly’s co-founder is Nick Mabey, the 2018 winner of the UK Roasters Championship. Nick was formerly the account manager and barista trainer at Assembly’s sister brand, Volcano Coffee Works, which is also based in London.

The company is instantly recognizable by the beautiful artwork on their coffee packets, which their team designed in-house.

You can purchase their coffee online from their website or by visiting their various wholesale partners across the city.

Assembly offers an impressive selection of single origin filter coffees from Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as single origin espresso and a house espresso blend.

Prices start from £10 for a 200g bag, which makes Assembly the priciest option on our list. They also offer 1kg coffee bags, too.

Amongst the offerings are limited edition coffees such as their Colombian geisha and a collaborative effort between Assembly and Omotesando Koffee, which is a blend from multiple origins.

Kiss The Hippo

Kiss the Hippo coffee roasters is a relative newcomer to the specialty coffee roasting scene. Founded by Can Eren only a few years ago, the company now has two venues, with the roastery based on George Street in Richmond.

Wholesale manager, Paul Ross, is the current 2020 UK Barista Champion, and the Head of Coffee, Joshua Tarlo, is the 2018 UK Barista Champion.

Kiss The Hippo has a smaller selection of coffees on offer compared to some of the other roasters listed here, but they stock everything from single origins to blends to decaf. Prices start from £10 for a 250g bag, or you can take advantage of their 1kg option that has a 15% discount.

Despite offering a smaller selection, the coffees are varied and interesting, with many processed using alternative methods that are not commonly seen.

Kiss the Hippo also regularly features rare varietals. Last year, they had perhaps the most famous of them all, Panama’s Hacienda La Esmeralda geisha on offer.

The company also offers a subscription service so that you can have freshly roasted coffee delivered to your door on a recurring basis at a frequency to suit you. All of their offerings come in whole bean or ground options.

Union

Located on South Crescent in East London, Union hand-roasted coffee is one of the oldest specialty coffee roasters in the UK.

Scientists Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz founded the company in 2001 after returning from San Francisco, aiming to replicate its buzzing, new-wave coffee scene.

Ever since its inception, Union has been about working directly with farmers to ensure responsible sourcing. The pair travelled the world to find farmer partners, and today they still work with their very first partner from Rwanda.

At Union, you’ll find some of the most competitive pricing of any coffee roaster in London. Prices start at just £5.25 for a 200g bag. The coffees are also available in 1kg bags and come with a small discount.

Union offers coffee from every corner of the coffee belt, with their line up including their signature espresso blend, organic blend, decaf blend, a host of single origin coffees and rare varietals such as geisha.

Union’s subscription service is known as CoffeeClub, and it’s very flexible. You can have Union select a random coffee each time, have them select one based on your favourite types of coffee, or you can select exactly which coffee you want each time.

They will deliver 400g of ground or whole bean coffee to your door weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, depending on what suits you best.

Square Mile

Perhaps the most well-known London specialty coffee roaster is Square Mile, which was founded by James Hoffmann and Anette Moldvaer. James rose to fame after winning the World Barista Championship in 2007 and opened the roastery with Anette a year later in 2008.

James Hoffmann is extremely influential in the specialty coffee scene and has a rapidly growing YouTube channel with at least one new video to watch each week. If you’re at all curious about anything to do with the world of coffee, then you must check it out.

Square Mile recently had to vacate their premises, and they have now set up in a stunning new roasting facility on Blackhorse Lane near Tottenham.

Something we really like is the larger sized bags that Square Mile offer as standard. The 350g packs really allow you to sink your teeth into the coffee. Prices start from £11, and the coffees also come in 1kg bags.

Most of the coffees on offer are either from Latin America or Africa. Square Mile offers a seasonal espresso blend, a decaf espresso, single origin espresso and single origin for filter. Recently, the company introduced a new seasonal filter blend, too.

As with most of the coffee roasters listed here, Square Mile offers a subscription service that you can order for yourself or as a gift. Choose between filter or espresso, and whether you want your coffee weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Caravan

Caravan coffee roasters operates out of a huge, 790 square metre (8,500 sq ft) redeveloped Victorian warehouse on North Road in Islington.

The facility includes offices, labs, a roastery, a space for training and events, and a climate-controlled green storage to keep the coffee in optimum conditions.

Caravan has a decent line up of espresso and filter coffees to choose from. Choose between a traditional espresso blend or a single origin. Amongst the filters are the usual single origin offerings, but Caravan also has their famous Special BRÜ filter blend, which is now celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The coffees come in bags of 250g or 1kg, with prices starting from £9.50. They’re all offered as either whole bean or ground for filter.

Caravan offers a subscription service that can be delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly. However, unlike the other roasters on the list, the company insists on you committing to a minimum of three months when you purchase on of their subscription services.

Workshop

James Dickson founded Workshop Coffee Roasters in 2011. James wanted to open a destination venue dedicated to an integrated approach of truly excellent coffee, ensuring he and his company has an input into the entire coffee chain.

Their 325 square metre (3,500 sq ft) roastery is located on Vyner Street in East London.

Workshop’s coffees are one of my personal favourites. They show you what coffee can truly be when made with care and attention.The use of ColorTrack technology enables the company to roast consistent batches that never fail to please.

A number of years ago, they reduced their coffee pack sizes from 350g to 250g so they could fit through letterboxes. Prices for a 250g bag start from £11, which makes Workshop one of the priciest on the list. There is also the option to purchase the coffees in 1kg packs.

On offer is a selection of single origin filters from Latin America and Africa. If you prefer espresso, Workshop offers a choice between traditional blends and single origin. Both the filter and espresso options also have decaffeinated versions too.

Workshop offers the option of a subscription service that can be purchased either for yourself or as a gift. Choose between filter or espresso, sizes of 250g, 500g or 1kg, and whether you’d like the coffees delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The great thing is that you can select an ongoing subscription that can be paused at any time.