Bristol’s coffee roasting renaissance

The coffee beans might be grown across the world, but once they arrive in the UK, there is a good chance they will be roasted in Bristol, with roasteries large and small across our city.

You can usually smell when you are approaching a roastery. Close to Cabot Circus car park, there is Wogan where you can sample the coffees in their brew bar with beans roasted just the other side of a glass window. Even a few hundred metres up the road next to the M32 in St Werburgh’s, there are distinct coffee aromas from Extract on New Gatton Road.

Beneath a former railway arch in Lawrence Hill, however, the only current clue as to what is going on behind the metal shutters is a few stickers with Full Court Press’ distinctive coffee bag labels, based on a stained glass window at their cafe on Broad Street in the Old City.

Until last year, Full Court Press used to also roast their coffee on Broad Street but Conservation Area rules meant that they needed an in-built filtration system so smells were not pumped outside their building. Despite moving premises from BS1 to BS5, their South Korea-built electric Stronghold 785g roaster remains – with plans in the future to move to an 8kg model in order to scale up production.

On a recent morning, FCP co-owner Johnny Simpson was on his own in the roastery, concentrating fiercely while roasting the latest espresso soon to be available in the cafe. On a table were 30kg of espresso grown in Mexico and roasted here a few days previously, ready to be shipped to Økende, a cafe in the West Bridgford district of Nottingham where former FCP barista Shaun now works.

Jonny Simpson at work in Full Court Press’ roastery in Lawrence Hill – photo: Martin Booth

FCP started the roastery side of its business during the pandemic in order to survive when its income from the cafe stopped.

“We had to make sure we could still be around and the way to do that was to roast our own product to have a new income stream,” Johnny explained. “We’re still hanging in there! It’s exciting because it provides more opportunity for our staff to stay rather than help direct them to where’s next in their journey.”

A short cycle ride the other side of the Railway Path is Radical Roasters on St Mark’s Road in Easton, where customers in the cafe can watch Cat O’Shea and her team hard at work.

Radical Roasters was only founded last year but has already built up a loyal following, as well as becoming the house coffee at Ahh Toots on Christmas Steps, Future Doughnuts on Oxford Street in St Philip’s Marsh and Ruby Hue in Finzels Reach, and joining forces with Psychopomp on St Michael’s Hill in Kingsdown for a coffee digestif.

Radical Roasters owner Cat O’Shea in her cafe and roastery in Easton – photo: Martin Booth

Cat, who when not running her nascent business is the lead singer of band Kiss Me Killer, says that having the machine within the cafe offers “a bit of theatre”. In just their third month of being open, people from the local area are already making it part of their routine to pop into the shop to refill their own jars with coffee, therefore reducing the need for disposable packaging.

Cat also offers classes in roasting to marginalised communities, as well as donating coffee to the cafe at St Mark’s Church which offers hot food and drink for those in need.

“It’s speciality, high-end coffee but we want to make it as approachable as possible,” Cat says. “First and foremost, we are a roastery but we just open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for people to come in and enjoy the space, making it a treat rather than an everyday cafe. We want everyone to feel welcome here, for it to feel like a relaxed living room, a real community hub.”

Inside Triple Co. in Montpelier – photo: Martin Booth

From Easton, it’s another short cycle ride to Montpelier to the hive of activity that is Triple Co. Roast. The centre of attention here in Montpelier Central trading estate close to the railway station is a 25kg Probat machine which used to be owned by Caravan in London’s King’s Cross.

It’s the third location in the evolution of Triple Co, which started with founder Jo Thompson roasting in one corner of Elemental on Stokes Croft before expanding to larger premises behind Happytat, and moving here to Monty mid-lockdown.

Triple Co’s coffee – beans as well as pods – are for sale for home brewing in shops including Coffee & Beer on Cotham Hill, as well as available to drink in cafes including Cloakroom on Woodland Road, Dareshack on Wine Street and Kind Regards in Eastville Park.

The Nespresso compatible pods are made entirely from wood shavings mixed with starch, making them compostable. Clifton Coffee in Avonmouth and Colonna in Yate also sell pods, but Triple Co are the only roastery in the UK to use these environmentally friendly versions (although for now the coffee does need to be sent to Germany to be packaged into the pods).

Enjoy Wogan’s coffee with a view of their roastery – photo: Martin Booth

In what appears to be a growing trend, city roasteries are also opening their own cafes. Look out for Hengrove roasters Odd Kin now with a unit on Whiteladies Road in Clifton; and Boona Boona of Totterdown set to open their first cafe in their home neighbourhood soon.

Next time you pass a roastery and breathe in the aromas, savour the smells of businesses that are helping to spread Bristol’s name across the world.

Main photo of Fency Feng at Full Court Press by Jonny Simpson

This feature was first published in Bristol24/7’s new quarterly magazine

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