A rich fruit cake with hints of cinnamon and brandy. A creamy, pistachio ice cream.. We travelled the continent, hand-picked and tasted coffees from European roasters and came up with the most interesting and delicious pudding flavours for this month's selection. For the November Edition of The Right Roast we’re excited to share four intriguing and experimental artisanal roasters who are pushing the boundaries of dessert-like flavour profiles from their coffee beans.

So it’s time to put down your knife and fork and pick up your spoon, let’s get started on our sweet treat!

(Amsterdam, Netherlands)

The story of Friedhats is closely connected with the personal story of two friends, Lex Wenneker and Dylan Sedgwick. Lex, now recognized for his multiple wins as Dutch Barista and Brewer Champion, met Dylan in Amsterdam and launched Friedhats together in 2016, which almost instantly becoming a hit. Today Friedhats is known the world-over for their dynamic brand, lively humour and above all incredible coffee. I’m so excited to have them in our set!

(Near Florance, Italy)

As with many other specialty coffee roasters, the story of Gearbox, who are based in La Torre, near Florence– begins with a one man, Tommaso Bongini, mostly known as Tom. Currently 34 years old, originally from Florence, he belongs to a family of roasters. In 2018 Tommaso decided that he wanted to start his own brand, Gearbox Coffee Roasters, dealing only with specialty coffees, where the focus is not only the coffee score, but on the story behind the coffee as well.

(Berlin, Germany)

Named after the location of the first café within the so-called “Berlin Barn Quarter”, at first was “just” a coffee place serving great coffee. Soon after founder Ralf Rüller opened his own roastery and over a decade later, The Barn is still one of the leading specialty coffee roasters in Europe. This comes as no surprise as I know well of his dedication and passion for working directly with producers through our relationship over the years.

(Oxford, UK)

NewGround was created from a passion for social justice and great coffee. Their approach is to roast specialty coffee while offering training and work opportunities for ex-offenders across the Oxford region. This approach to their unique roastery stems from a belief that coffee can go beyond the cup and be used as a catalyst for change in our own communities, giving some of the most overlooked people in society a new beginning, and everyone else really tasty coffee.