Lucid Coffee Roasters, Belfast

Stephen Houston founded Lucid Coffee Roasters in Belfast in 2021, after years of competing, judging, exhibiting and speaking at coffee festivals and events. Lucid means clearly expressed and easy to understand, and the aim is to break down the barriers between consumer and producer.

That aim shapes how the coffees are sold. Each one comes with its producer, its importer, the price paid for the green coffee, and the farmgate and FOB prices when the producer agrees to share them. Lucid buys through a few importers and exporters, among them Cofinet, Semilla and Khipu. It buys coffees scoring below 85 or 86 points as readily as higher-scoring lots, since they are usually a larger share of a farmer’s production. It also commits to sharing roast profiles and Agtron readings and to a yearly transparency report.

Houston won the Irish Brewers Cup in 2017 and 2019 and the Irish AeroPress Championship in 2019. He placed second in the UK SCA Roasting Championships in 2023 and third in the Irish Cup Tasters Championship in 2026. Labels and merchandise are drawn by the illustrator Ferns & Pen, and Lucid has a brewer collaboration with Orea. Beyond retail, Lucid supplies cafés wholesale and offers learning programmes, consultancy and private label roasting.

The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.