The Best coffee roasters in Bristol 2024 (Picked after visiting the city)

2. Extract Coffee Roasters 

Extract's hero coffees are 'speciality coffees on a mission'. A mission to make coffee better for people and the planet. Extract have spent a long time working on their hero range. The heroes are a mix of coffee blends and single-origin coffees. Each one is ethically sourced and perfectly-crafted and available to buy online year in year out. We haven't yet featured one in The RISE coffee box but hopefully that will change soon! 

Our favourite coffee to buy online from Extract coffee is their 'Certified Organic coffee' - the name does exactly what it says on the tin. Its a blend of Honduras and Peru. We love to find a certified Soil Association coffee, and the one from Extract does not disappoint. In the cup you will find notes of dark chocolate, fruit load and caramel. This is roasted slightly longer allowing the natural sugars in our organic coffee to caramelise during roasting, giving this punchy espresso its delicious sweetness and big chocolate flavours. It is slightly darker than what Alice and Ben usually drink, but a fantastic coffee to have with milk. The milk softens the bitterness and you will enjoy notes of caramel and hazelnut. The Extract mission is simple: To make coffee better. 

 

3. Clifton Coffee Roasters

We first wrote about Clifton in our blog about coffee roasters changing the scene in the South West of the UK here.

Founded by James Fisher in 2001, Clifton Coffee Company began its life servicing espresso machinery in the independent businesses of Bristol. As the reputation for service grew, so too did the demand for supply of coffee & equipment and so, just a couple of years later, when joined by Ed Buston, Clifton Coffee began wholesaling roasted coffees to the surrounding area, backed up with relatively unknown at the time ‘barista training’ to support its wholesale customers.

The team at Clifton Coffee believe in transparent and ethical sourcing. 90% of their volume is bought directly from origin through their own relationships that hey have built travelling the world, creating and maintaining partnerships and ensuring their buying program delivers across the three pillars of economic, environmental and socially sustainable trade. They also work closely with co-operatives, private exporters, NGO’s and Indigenous Rights Groups to ensure that the coffees they sell are ethical, free from exploitation, and truly traceable. This is remarkable and since our recent trip to Uganda ourselves, brilliant to see a roaster going direct to origin and building these relationships.

Our current favourite from Clifton at the moment is their Peru - Wilder Garcia. This coffee is also an Extract 'Staff Favourite' so we think we have picked well here! The tasting notes are blackcurrant, agave and zinfandel rose and you can buy online for £13 per 250g - they do charge delivery however. 

Peruvian coffee beans thrive in the high altitudes of the Andean peaks, slowly maturing into incredibly sweet cherries that are hand-picked for maximum ripeness. They’re known for their medium-body and well-balanced flavour profiles. The farmer in Peru, Wilder Garcia maintains a close relationship with the health of his coffee trees. At 1800masl, his 23-hectare farm enjoys an ideal climate for growing Arabica coffee, which spans 16 hectares of his land. Wilder began implementing a Tissue Management System of pruning and maintaining plants on his coffee farm six years ago to achieve a productive balance, encourage cherry production and avoid fluctuations. The system relies on a two-year cycle and is applied in blocks. Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, Geisha, and Java varietals are grown, and their tissue management depends largely on the skeletal style of the trees.

Where to find Clifton Coffee in Bristol:

📍Island Trade Pk, Bristow Broadway, Avonmouth, Bristol BS11 9FB

6. Blind Owl Coffee Roasters

'Finca Palin' is a third-generation coffee farm owned and managed by Carolina Padilla. The coffee trees are surrounded by citrus trees such as limes and oranges, helping promote higher quality coffee production whilst also diversifying income. During harvest, the cherries are carefully hand-picked and delivered to a nearby mill. Here, the coffee is pulped to remove the exterior fruit and fermented for 10-12 hours. The coffee is then washed in canals of water to remove any remaining mucilage and foreign material. The freshly cleaned beans are then evenly dispersed on clay patios to dry until the ideal moisture content is reached. When this delicious green bean reaches us Blind Own in Bristol, they roast it to a medium profile in order to maintain and accentuate its delicious flavours.