Most welcome, and really enjoying this thread for recommendations myself. Others I’ve been to in person in the last 12 months now I’ve had to think about it:
- Origin coffee, Cornwall - fantastic roastery café, very friendly staff.
- Buxton coffee roasters, Peak District - generally seem to be darker roasts but have some interesting ideas. Sadly doesn’t have a café
- Foundation coffee, Manchester - used to have a lot more in store than is currently online, not sure what’s going on. Two very nice cafés though
- ManCoCo, Manchester - white lie, didn’t go myself in person, but friend I was with did to get me a surprise gift as we were <5 mins away. Was a tasty coffee but can’t comment further.
Places I personally avoid from experience:
- Chatsworth house restaurant blend - had this in a Christmas hamper for the past few years, goes straight in the bin as it is undrinkably dark for my taste
- Pippas London - a front for a huge white label coffee distribution warehouse. Coffee was nice enough, but prefer to support small batch roasters.
Personally I really enjoy the whole going to the roastery and seeing what they have, trying a few things out etc, so I’m heavily biased towards what’s available to me locally. I’ve got The Nocturn to try when I next run out of Kickback, but as I’ve never tried any I can’t pass any judgement.