Maxwell and Lesley discovered third wave coffee in Melbourne in 2008 and opened Colonna & Small’s in Bath the following year. The roastery followed in 2015, to give them more control over sourcing and flavour profiling, and it roasts in Yate, where a 70 kg Diedrich has more than quadrupled its capacity. Maxwell won the UK Barista Championship in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and Colonna has co-authored scientific papers on water, frozen grinding, sensory science and sustainability. That work led to a capsule system for specialty coffee in 2016 and to the Peak Water Project, launched in 2020.

The Bath shop has no traditional house coffee. Its menu changes constantly, to shift the focus from the format of the drink to the origin of the coffee, and a freezer menu keeps some exceptional coffees and limited releases available for longer. It also serves pastries and cakes. In 2023 Colonna opened a second shop in London, a short walk from Farringdon Station, with the same changing menu, retail coffee and equipment, and events through the year from auction cuppings to competitions and seminars.

The beans are sorted into genres. Foundation, Discovery and Rare each hold one rotating coffee, roasted for filter or espresso, and Gesha is a filter coffee. TRIO and SOLO are the house espressos, a seasonal blend and a seasonal single origin. The numbered Limited Release Rare series began with a Yemeni natural from Qima. Lot 027, an Elida Washed Gesha bought directly from Wilford Lamastus Junior, had been kept frozen as green coffee for two years before release.

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Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Colonna Coffee