Why We Roast Coffee in Southampton

There are probably easier places to start a coffee roastery.

But we’re from Southampton. We live here, work here, drink coffee here - so it made sense to build Ascapart here too.

We like the city.

We like that it’s a little rough around the edges. We like the independents, the people, the sea, the pubs, the markets and the fact that you can still bump into someone you know pretty much anywhere.

Most importantly, we like being part of it.

Coffee, but closer to home

Coffee has a long way to travel before it reaches your cup.

It starts with farmers growing and harvesting the coffee, then goes through processing, exporting, shipping, importing, roasting and finally brewing.

By the time it reaches you, there are a lot of people involved.

Our job is to make sure that journey is worth it.

We work with coffees from different parts of the world, looking for interesting flavours, good producers and coffees that we genuinely want to drink ourselves.

Then we bring them back to Southampton and roast them here.

Small batches. No shortcuts.

Coffee roasting is part science, part craft and part knowing when to leave things alone.

Every coffee behaves differently.

A natural Ethiopian isn't going to roast the same way as a washed Colombian. A dense, high-grown coffee needs something different from a Brazilian designed for espresso.

That's where experience comes in.

Our Head Roaster, Wilson, spends his days figuring this stuff out - tweaking profiles, tasting batches and making sure every coffee is doing what it should.

The aim isn't to roast the personality out of a coffee.

It's to find it.

Coffee is better when it's shared

The roastery is only one part of what we do.

Our coffee ends up in cafés, restaurants, offices and kitchens across the country.

Some people drink it black at 7am.

Some make a flat white and spend twenty minutes ignoring their emails.

Some put the kettle on and immediately forget about it.

That's all good with us.

Coffee doesn't need to be complicated.

It just needs to be good.

So, why Southampton?

Because it's home.

And because we think independent coffee should feel like it belongs somewhere.

We're proud to roast here, proud to work with people who care about what they do, and proud that a coffee roasted in Southampton can end up being enjoyed pretty much anywhere.

From our little corner of the city to wherever you happen to be drinking it.

Good coffee. Roasted here.

That's Ascapart.