The Story
Workshop Coffee was founded in 2011 by James Dickson with the ambition to shape London’s growing third wave coffee culture. The roastery began with a 12kg Probat roaster in the back of a restaurant in Clerkenwell , driven by the vision to offer London something new: an East London destination that would combine the sourcing, roasting, extracting and serving of truly memorable coffee . It took two years before Workshop Coffee opened its doors, quickly followed by a coffee bar in Marylebone and wholesale coffee supply to other independent cafés .
The brand opened a dedicated roasting space in Bethnal Green in 2016 , building its reputation through high-quality service and coffee in its coffee bars . However, the pandemic forced significant challenges, closing most of its coffee bars and prompting a pivot toward wholesale and direct trade . The company strengthened its leadership team within the last 12 months by appointing former Origin Coffee Operations Director Andy Phillips as CEO in 2023 and adding David Read as Chairman in January 2024 .
In February 2026, Workshop returned to its café roots with the opening of Workshop Café & Academy on Eccleston Street in Belgravia , representing a return to something fundamental, a space where coffee can be experienced in its most tangible form, reconnecting with the craft that has defined Workshop since 2011 . Today, the company supplies over 150 wholesale partners with its range of single-origin and house blends .
Sourcing & Relationships
Workshop directly sources from producing countries in South and Central America, and East Africa, with a disciplined approach to sourcing washed coffees from small-scale growers across East Africa, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Nicaragua . Their green coffee sourcing strategy harnesses a combination of long-term producer relationships and partnerships with newer producers, with some coffees being purchased for 12 years and others from producer groups they’ve worked with for seven years .
Rather than purchasing coffees anonymously, the company is committed to learning as much as possible about the production and provenance of the coffees and the people they work with, which means travelling around the world to visit growers and maintaining buying relationships with as much transparency and communication as possible . When buying ‘spot’ coffees or leveraging relationships from chosen export/import partners, they work through reputable green coffee suppliers who place strong emphasis on traceability, sustainability and paying fair prices to coffee growers .
In 2024, 43% of Workshop’s coffee purchases were organically farmed, 94% came from smallholder growers, and 52% supported regenerative tree-planting initiatives, with the company prioritising quality, provenance, and sustainability regardless of the source . Having worked with producer associations like the Valle Inca Association for over half a decade, Workshop supports their producers via premium pricing, pre-financing, aid in building and purchasing of drying infrastructures and processing materials, and offering agronomical advice .
Roasting Philosophy
Workshop’s roasting philosophy centres on their guiding principle of “clean, sweet, and fresh,” ensuring every cup is unmistakably Workshop in character . Working with high quality coffees allows them to offer roasts that let the innate coffee flavours shine through , while their trademark technique of light to medium roasting opens the palette up to experience new flavours .
The company maintains a meticulous approach to quality control, evaluating every single batch by taste on three separate occasions, ensuring each tiny detail is evaluated and perfected even post-roasting . They employ a combination of roasting intelligence software, strict quality control and unwavering attention to ensure every bag of coffee meets their standards . For espresso roasting, they prioritise balance, mouthfeel and strong core flavour, while for filter coffee they look for lots with great poise, clarity, brightness and sweetness that can stand out even when brewed in more dilute methods .
When composing their house blends, they look to achieve balance and synergy between various components, seeking compatible flavour profiles that complement each other and allow for consistent flavour year-round when components are seasonally refreshed . This approach reflects their commitment to showcasing the unique characteristics of different regions and cultivars in their single-origin offerings.
What to Try
Workshop’s signature collection features three bestsellers—Article, El Nevado, and Legacy—which highlight their core values of quality, support for growers, and enduring focus on flavour . Article is their house coffee, a blend from Cajamarca, Peru, and Minas Gerais, Brazil, offering a classic, balanced flavour profile with a sweet, clean finish, carefully sourced from quality-focused producers .
El Nevado stands out as a single-origin Colombian coffee from Huila, celebrated for its vibrant sweetness, silky body, and notes of caramelised sugars, marzipan, and berries, sourced through long-standing relationships with growers focused on precision and quality . Legacy is a blend of Peruvian and Ethiopian coffees, delivering complex flavours of baking spice, toffee, and jammy forest fruits, developed to support core producer groups while celebrating complementary, harmonious profiles .
Their perennially available single-origin Colombian espresso roast showcases their ability to curate Colombian coffee that tastes fresh and expressive thanks to the country’s multiple harvesting and shipping periods . All three signature coffees are omni-roast, suited to all brewing methods, available year-round and refreshed seasonally to reflect the freshest offerings from their trusted producers, defining their approach to clean, sweet, and balanced coffee .