July RISE coffee box
Lomond Coffee, Routes & a Guatemalan You Won't Forget.
Written by Alice & Ben, co-founders of RISE Coffee Box, Great Taste Award judges 2026, B Corp certified, obsessed with finding the UK's best independent specialty coffee roasters.
This month's RISE Coffee Box features Lomond Coffee from SE London, a small, all-female roastery just a stone's throw from our home and Routes Coffee from Oxford, bringing you something genuinely rare: a specialty coffee from Zambia. Two roasters with serious stories, two outstanding coffees, plus decaf, brew tips, and a farmer spotlight on the three-generation Guatemalan farm behind your Lomond coffee.
July is a big one. We've been wanting to feature Lomond Coffee for a long time and they're practically our neighbours in SE London and they do everything right. And Routes Coffee are back with something that genuinely surprised us: a specialty coffee from Zambia, one of the rarest origins you'll ever find in a subscription box. Let's get into it.
Two Roasters, Two Stories
Lomond Coffee
📍 Camberwell, SE London · Est. 2015Founded in 2015 by sisters Hayley and Linzi, Lomond started on a 1kg roaster in a SE London kitchen before growing into a café-roastery in Deptford and eventually consolidating at their Camberwell hub - just a stone's throw from our home. That proximity is part of why we love them so much.
As a small, all-female team, they focus on responsible sourcing, small-batch roasting, and coffee that performs equally well at home or in a café. Ethical practice runs through everything they do: transparent supply chains, home compostable packaging, plant-based inks, and certifications including 1% for the Planet and carbon neutral status.
Routes Coffee
📍 Oxford · Global coffee influences · Festival favouriteRoutes have become a firm RISE favourite and you may have already come across them at festivals like Glastonbury, where they're a much-loved coffee pop-up. Born from founders Will and Jimmy travelling the world, Routes brings together global coffee influences with a genuine passion for sourcing and roasting great coffee.
They also run Green Routes, their café in Oxford, which is an award-winning brunch spot. This month they've brought us something special: a coffee from Zambia; one of the rarest and most exciting origins in the world of specialty coffee. We sourced this one with them directly to bring you something genuinely new.
This Month's Coffees
Monte Cristo
Guatemala · Three-generation family farm · WashedMedium
Sage 8–10 · De'Longhi 7–9 · Ninja 8–10
French Press: 30g → 500ml · 4 min · Coarse grind
The coffee: Grown on a three-generation family farm in Guatemala, this washed medium roast is bold but smooth, sweet and deeply enjoyable. Wet and dry milling on-site means every bean has been handled with care from cherry to cup.
Expect rich chocolate up front, a lingering caramel sweetness, and a bright hint of apple to keep things lively. Approachable enough for a morning cafetière or espresso and interesting enough to savour as a filter.
This is the kind of coffee that works for everyone at the table. A proper all-rounder from a roastery doing things exactly right.
Mount Sunzu
Zambia · Mbala · Mount Sunzu Farm · WashedZambia
Also works great iced, as a cafetière, or long black / americano.
Tip: If it tastes bright but a little short, give it more contact time.
The coffee: Mount Sunzu is a specialty coffee farm at the base of Zambia's highest mountain in Mbala, founded by three Swiss entrepreneurs who secured a 99-year lease on a 780-hectare plot in 2019, land that had lain fallow since the 1990s.
Of the 780 hectares, 115 are under coffee while 600 are being actively reforested with native Miombo woodland. Solar-powered irrigation cuts water use by 35%, beekeeping supports local biodiversity, and the farm provides year-round employment to over 120 local staff.
Zambian specialty coffee is genuinely rare. Routes sourced this exclusively for RISE: chocolate, fig and honey in the cup, and a story worth knowing behind every sip.
🌙 For the decaf drinkers
El Buho is Spanish for 'The Owl' is a washed sugarcane decaf sourced from farmers across Colombia's Huila and Tolima regions. A blend of Castillo, Caturra and Colombia varieties, decaffeinated using the naturally derived Ethyl Acetate (sugar cane) process. Tasting notes: golden syrup, nuts, lemon. Ben's favourite decaf of the year so far.
From the Cerrado region at 1,100–1,850 masl. Medium dark roast, washed sugarcane decaffeination. Tasting notes: dark cocoa, molasses, caramel. A smooth, full-bodied cup roasted to bring out warmth and richness - perfect any time of day.
The Farm Behind Your Lomond Coffee
The Nottebohm family's connection to Guatemalan coffee stretches back to the 1800s, when they helped build the country's export industry from its earliest days. Today, Dieter and Holly run Nueva Granada in San Marcos, overlooking the two tallest volcanoes in Guatemala - Tajumulco and Tacana - at over 1,400 metres above sea level.
What makes Nueva Granada truly special is how deeply the farm is woven into its community. Free water is piped to around 5,000 people across four neighbouring settlements. Workers' families have access to a primary school, library, shared secondary school and health clinic.
Over 30,000 additional trees have been planted since joining the Rainforest Alliance. Coffee grows in the shade of macadamia, wildlife corridors are preserved along every stream, and all water used in the mill is fully recycled.
Every cup of the Monte Cristo this month is directly connected to this farm, this family, and this community.
Introducing Founder Alice
We've had a lot of new subscribers recently so we wanted to say a big hello and thank you for joining the RISE community, and take a moment to re-introduce one of our founders.
RISE was entirely Alice's idea. An entrepreneur at heart since childhood (including ventures like Woof Woof Walkers!), she'd worked as a barista in Melbourne and always had a passion for great coffee. Meeting Ben, and lockdown, gave her the push to finally make it happen.
Before RISE, Alice worked in marketing and advertising agencies, running projects for multi-million pound global brands. That creativity still drives everything she does at RISE and she's always the one coming up with the big (sometimes overly ambitious!) ideas.
A few things about Alice
Proudest RISE moment? Getting B Corp certified. We put so much effort into sourcing and building a business the right way — it meant everything.
Favourite coffee? A Costa Rican from a farm we visited and featured. Smooth, bold chocolate and citrus. Loved it.
Outside RISE? Yoga, walking, chocolate (ha!) and spending time with our 2-year-old son.
Stay Closer to RISE
💬 Facebook Group
Daily brewing discussion, tips, and community. Search RISE Coffee Box Community to join.
🎬 TikTok & Instagram
Behind-the-scenes content, roastery visits, and coffee education every week. Follow @risecoffeebox.
🏆 Great Taste Awards 2026
Alice and Ben are judging this year. Alice on filter, Ben on espresso. We won't feature any coffees we award stars to. Full integrity, always.
🌱 B Corp Certified
RISE is the UK's only B Corp certified coffee discovery club. We give 1% of every order to our Friendly Coffee Fund, supporting coffee-growing communities worldwide.
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Coffee That Does More.
July's box is two roasters at the top of their game. Lomond Coffee - an all-female SE London roastery doing everything right, with a Guatemalan from a farm that's been changing lives in its community for generations. And Routes Coffee are back with one of the rarest and most exciting coffees we've ever put in a RISE box: a specialty Zambian from a farm reforesting 600 hectares of native woodland and employing over 120 people.
Every cup you drink this month is part of something bigger. That's what RISE has always been about.
Enjoy every single cup. We'll be back next month with more.
Alice & Ben ☕
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