Routes coffee
A Roaster We Trust
Routes Coffee are based in Oxford, and this month they've brought us something genuinely rare: a specialty coffee from Zambia. Zambian specialty coffee is a real find on the UK market, and Routes have sourced a beauty.
That willingness to seek out genuinely uncommon origins, rather than sticking to the usual suspects, is exactly what we look for in the independent UK roasters we feature in our specialty coffee subscription boxes.
Mount Sunzu
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, which makes this one a real treat.
A rare Zambian specialty coffee grown at the base of the country's highest mountain, farmed with genuine care for the surrounding land and community. Chocolatey, figgy and full of honeyed sweetness.
Filter / Black: 1:16 ratio, 93–96°C, 2:45–3:30 min brew time. 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.
Coffees like this are exactly why RISE Coffee Box exists. Every month, we blind taste 25-30 coffees from independent specialty coffee roasters across the UK – from Oxford names like Routes Coffee to standout roasters we've discovered along the way – and choose only the very best to feature in our coffee subscription boxes. If you love discovering new specialty coffee, sustainably sourced and roasted by people who genuinely care about where it comes from, a RISE coffee subscription is the easiest way to explore it all from home.
