September RISE coffee box
Nicaragua Meets Colombia: A Box That Plants Trees.
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 Kickback Coffee from Macclesfield, with an experimental Nicaraguan grown by third and fourth-generation farmers, and Press Coffee from London, with a Colombian that's the flagship of a real-world reforestation project. Two roasters, two countries, one shared belief: great coffee should leave the land, and the people who grow it, better off. Plus decaf, an Ask Alice, Ben & Parri Q&A, and news on the advent calendar and our Ninja machine giveaway.
This month's box is all about trees - real ones, planted in the ground. Kickback Coffee have roasted us a Nicaraguan produced especially for them after their founder bike-packed through the country meeting producers along the way, and Press Coffee are back with the flagship coffee behind their Reforest Project in Colombia. Let's get into it.
Two Roasters, Two Stories
Kickback Coffee
📍 Macclesfield, CheshireKickback started with a love of coffee, travel and adventure, and that's still at the heart of everything they do. This independent specialty roastery, based in Cheshire, sources and roasts coffees they genuinely enjoy drinking from farmers they have met in person.
Sustainability here isn't just a badge either. They pledge 1% of sales to 1% for the Planet, and are currently supporting Raw Material's mission to plant 1 million trees — all part of building genuine, long-term relationships with producers.
Press Coffee
📍 London · Est. 2010Press's story starts in 2010, when good friend and founder Andy opened Get Coffee on Fleet Street. One café grew into seven, before Press took the leap into roasting seriously impressive coffee themselves. Today it's a small, slightly unconventional crew of 15, led by Jack, obsessed with sourcing the tastiest beans.
Sustainability runs deep too: electric van deliveries, reusable barrels, compostable bags, and a genuine partnership with Forest Coffee's Reforest Project in Colombia.
This Month's Coffees
Finca Mirasol
Nicaragua · La Dalia, Matagalpa · WashedMedium
Filter: 15g in, 250g water, 92 to 94°C, medium grind, 2:30 to 3:00 brew
The coffee: This is an experimental coffee grown by Luis Toruño and the third and fourth-generation Montes Molina family in La Dalia, Matagalpa. It was produced especially for Kickback after founder Alex and Head of Coffee Operations David bike-packed through Nicaragua, meeting producers along the way.
Expect a sweet and smooth cup with round plum-like acidity, good body, and a long candy finish. An excellent espresso coffee that also works brilliantly as a filter.
Try it black to let that honeysuckle and yellow plum sing, or as a milky flat white for a butter-candy finish.
Reforest
Colombia · Tolima · WashedProject
Filter: 15.5g in, 240ml yield, medium grind
The coffee: Meet Reforest, a washed Colombian omni-roast with notes of milk chocolate, sultana and dark cherry as espresso, something else entirely as filter (give it a try). Grown in Tolima using Caturra and Castillo varietals, it's the flagship coffee behind the Reforest Project.
Their mission is to fight climate change by planting real trees, not just slapping on a carbon offset badge and with a goal of 5,000 native trees across northern Tolima and southern Caldas. They've also built their own co-operative, rewarding producers on quality over quantity. Hands-on, relationship-first, and exactly why we're proud to pour it.
🌙 For the decaf drinkers
Sourced from OCFCU, a farmer-owned union in Ethiopia's Oromia region founded in 1999, bringing together smallholder farmers and cooperatives to grow, process and market highland Arabica coffee. Grown using traditional shade-grown agroforestry that protects biodiversity and soil health, with earnings reinvested into education, healthcare, infrastructure and farmer training. Naturally sugar cane decaffeinated, medium-dark roast. Tasting notes: chocolate, caramel.
El Vergel Estate in Tolima started as an avocado farm in 1995, on the mineral-rich slopes of an inactive volcano. When disease collapsed the avocado market in 2006, Martha Bayter pivoted the family farm to coffee, planting the same Red and Yellow Caturra cherries. The name honours the Andean Condor, a symbol of Colombian resilience.. fitting, given the story. EA sugarcane decaffeinated, medium-dark roast. Tasting notes: chocolate, Viennese biscuit.
This Month's Box Is All About Trees
This month, we've paired two roasters who put their money where their mouth is when it comes to giving back, not through vague pledges or badges slapped on a bag, but through actual trees in actual ground.
Our beliefs
Two roasters, two countries, two different approaches, but the same underlying belief: that great coffee should leave the land, and the people who grow it, better off than they found it. Each bag plays a part in projects that are measured in trees planted and communities supported.
Why it matters: Coffee grows in some of the most biodiverse, and increasingly threatened, regions on earth. Deforestation for farmland, combined with a warming climate, is steadily shrinking the land suitable for growing great coffee, putting both ecosystems and farmer livelihoods at risk.
What the projects do in practice: The Reforest Project in Colombia aims to plant 30,000 native trees across Tolima and is building a co-operative that rewards farmers directly. The 1 million trees project, through 1% for the Planet, aims to reduce carbon, improve biodiversity, and improve air quality.
Ask Alice, Ben and Parri
We get asked a lot of the same questions at markets, in DMs, by mates who still don't quite get what we do all day. So we sat down and answered three of the ones that come up again and again.
Ben, why do you change the coffee every month?
Honestly, we'd get bored fast drinking the same thing every month. There is just so much great coffee out there, all unique in their own way. Rotating roasters means every box is a proper discovery, not just a top-up.
Alice, what is it like running a business with your husband (to be)?
Chaotic, in the best way. We're getting married on the 23rd of August, so right now "work-life balance" is basically a myth! But honestly, building RISE together has been incredibly fun and we get to share all the wins together.
Parri, what's surprised you most in your first 6 months with RISE?
Honestly? How good the coffee actually is. Like, I thought I knew coffee before I joined, turns out I knew nothing. The flavour range is unreal — one bag tastes like sweet chocolate and caramel, and the next is basically a blueberry explosion in a cup.
Yes, It's Still September. No, We're Not Sorry.
Our best loved winter drops sell out fast, and we'd rather you get first pick than a "sorry, gone" in December.
24 days, 24 coffees. Sold out every year. A daily door of specialty coffee from 18+ origins. Scan the daily QR code to learn more each day.
- ✓ 24 whole bean single-origin specialty coffees
- ✓ From 18+ origins around the world
- ✓ Sells out every year — pre-order now
Win a Ninja Machine
And whether you win or not: your friend gets £15 off their first box, you get £10 off yours. We've recently upgraded our referral system and made it even easier to use and refer (not to worry, any credit built up from past referrals is still valid).
🏆 The prize
A Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus machine.
📅 How to win
Refer the most friends by 28 October 2026. Every friend who uses your referral link and places their first order counts as one entry.
Share the love, and you might win too.
Scan the QR in your account or share your referral link. The more friends who subscribe, the better your chances.
RISE active subscribers only. Friends must be new, first-time subscribers. Closes 11:59pm, 28 Oct 2026. Winner contacted by Alice on 29 Oct.
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.
September's box brings together two roasters doing genuinely exceptional work. Kickback Coffee, born from a love of travel and adventure, with a Nicaraguan grown by a family who bike-packed producers helped bring to life. And Press Coffee, back with the flagship coffee behind a project planting 30,000 real trees in Colombia.
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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