Service 07 · Coffee Sourcing
COFFEE
Sourcingthe right coffee for your café
The coffee you serve is a commercial and creative decision that shapes your menu, your margins, and the story you tell. Too many cafés lock into the wrong roaster early — a tied equipment loan that felt convenient, a supplier chosen because they knocked on the door first — and spend years working around the consequences.
We shortlist suppliers across your flavour brief, run blind cupping sessions, and review the contract terms before you sign anything. The right wholesale coffee relationship should make your business better, not constrain it. We make sure you know the difference.
What's Included
Supplier Selection
Most cafés evaluate two or three roasters. We evaluate ten or twelve — through blind tastings, sample reviews, and direct conversations about quality, consistency, and values. You get a shortlist with context and rationale, not just a name and a price per kilo.
Origin Shortlisting
Single origin, blends, seasonal rotation, direct trade, certified sourcing — the decisions about where your coffee comes from affect flavour, storytelling, and cost. We help you build an origin strategy that suits your menu, your customers, and your volume.
Quality Calibration
Good coffee is consistent coffee. We run calibration sessions to establish your baseline flavour profile and quality thresholds — so quality holds regardless of who's on bar, and you have a benchmark to hold your supplier to.
Contract Structure
Equipment loans, exclusivity clauses, MOQs, buyout terms — wholesale coffee contracts can tie you in for years. We review the terms, explain what they mean in practice, and help you negotiate from an informed position before you sign.
Guest Programme Design
A rotating guest programme adds interest to your menu, creates content, and signals quality to customers who care. We build the framework — supplier relationships, rotation schedule, tasting notes format — so it runs without adding operational complexity.
Supplier Relationships
The best coffee sourcing relationships are long-term, which means they need good foundations. We help you establish the communication norms, quality feedback loops, and ordering rhythms that keep your supply chain consistent and your supplier engaged.
In Practice
Client
Meridian Coffee
Specialty café · London
Before
£18/kg
After
£14/kg
Before
1
After
3
Before
Mixed
After
Consistent
The Situation
Meridian had been with the same supplier since opening — a tied equipment loan that felt convenient at the start but had left them locked into inflexible terms and a single blend with no room to develop their menu. Quality was inconsistent batch to batch, the buyout clause was expensive, and they had no leverage when problems arose.
The Outcome
We audited the contract, identified a buyout pathway that made financial sense, and ran a structured sourcing process across eleven UK roasters. Meridian now works with three complementary suppliers, runs a rotating single-origin programme alongside their house blend, and their coffee cost dropped from £18/kg to £14/kg on consolidated volume.
How It Works
Taste Profile Brief
1 week
We start with you, not a supplier list. What does your café stand for? Who are your customers and what are they ordering? What's your current sourcing situation and what needs to change? The brief determines everything that follows.
Supplier Research & Outreach
1–2 weeks
We work through our network and beyond — approaching roasters who fit the brief, requesting samples, and running preliminary quality checks before anything gets near your bar. You don't spend time on suppliers who won't work for you.
Cupping & Selection
On-site session
A structured cupping session at your venue — coffees presented blind, scored against your flavour brief, discussed in the context of your menu and your margins. You make the final call. We make sure it's an informed one.
Investment
Fixed-fee project
From £900
The right coffee sourcing relationship can save you thousands a year — and the wrong one costs you more than that in wasted margin and tied-in inflexibility. Our sourcing projects are fixed-fee, scoped to the complexity of your situation. Most are completed within four to six weeks.
Cupping sessions are held at your site or a nominated cupping lab.
Common Questions
Can you help us find direct trade suppliers?
Direct trade is one of the models we evaluate — alongside certified sourcing, micro-roaster partnerships, and larger wholesale arrangements. If direct trade aligns with your values and your volume can support it, we'll find the right partners.
We already have a supplier we like. Can you help us expand?
Absolutely. Many coffee sourcing projects are about complementing an existing relationship — adding a filter programme, building a seasonal rotation, or finding a second supplier for variety and backup. We work around what you already have.
Do you run the cupping sessions?
Yes. Cuppings are led by our Q-Grader, run to SCA protocol, and held at your site or a nominated cupping lab. We document the results and give you a scored shortlist you can refer back to — not just a verbal recommendation.
Can you help with filter as well as espresso?
Yes. We evaluate coffees across all brew formats — espresso, batch brew, V60, cold brew. Your coffee sourcing strategy should reflect your whole menu, not just the espresso programme. Many of the best value finds are in the filter range.
Related Services
Menus that make money
Menu Engineering
Your menu should do commercial work, not just list drinks. We build pricing models based on your real costs, design seasonal rotation schedules, and ensure every item on your menu earns its place — both for margin and for experience.
From green bean to finished product
Roastery Setup
Roastery launch is a different challenge to café launch — equipment selection, space planning, roast profiling, cupping protocols, and team training all need to align. We've been through this process and guide you through every stage.
Standards your team will actually hold
Barista Training
We build layered training programmes — from machine fundamentals and milk science to calibration sessions and documentation your whole team can reference. Consistent quality regardless of who's on bar.
it starts with a cupping
FIND THE RIGHT
coffee for you.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll talk through what you're building, what stage you're at, and whether there's a fit. No pitch, no obligation.