Wogan, Full Court Press, Greytone, Sweven and OddKin roast their own coffee in Bristol and serve it in their own rooms. Wogan has roasted in the city since 1970 and is now in its third generation, Full Court Press started as a multi-roaster café in 2013 and roasts its own today, and Sweven was founded in 2019. The other three pour beans from roasters close to the city or around the UK: Small Street Espresso, open since 2012, has a Clifton Coffee house roast, New Cut Coffee by the harbour pours Colonna, and Coffee + Beer changes its coffees every week. Most of these coffee shops in Bristol are in the Old City, St Paul’s and Bedminster, with others at Wapping Wharf, in Cotham and in Hengrove.
Wogan Coffee, St Paul’s
Wogan Coffee was founded in Bristol in 1970 by Brian Wogan, and his grandchildren run it now: James, the company’s Q Grader, at the Bristol roastery, and Laura in London. It is a wholly independent family company. Most of the roasting happens on two restored Probats, from 1991 and 1968, in the roastery across the road from the Brew Bar and Bean Shop. At the bar a selection of coffees goes through the espresso hoppers and the baristas brew other coffees on offer by AeroPress, V60 or another method; there are coffee flights, tastings and cupping sessions, and a coffee-infused soft serve on sunny days. Each month James picks a coffee for the Monthly Special, sometimes roasted on the Joper that stands in view of the bar. The food comes from suppliers in Bristol, beans are sold in 250 g, 500 g and 1 kg bags, and customers can bring their own containers. The SCA Training Campus in the same building runs multi-day barista courses.
Full Court Press, the Old City and The Dings
Full Court Press opened in the Old City in 2013 as a multi-roaster coffee shop. It now roasts its own coffee on an electric Stronghold S7 Pro. Fency, a former barista in the shop who came back from Yunnan as a Q Grader, runs the roastery, and the Old City shop’s menu shows FCP’s coffees alongside guest roasters, with two espresso and two filter options at all times and a menu that changes weekly. The roastery has its own coffee bar in The Dings, where customers choose from the whole range, with sixteen coffees on the menu, single-dosed and kept frozen. FCP shares the green price it pays per kilo for each coffee and how many kilos it bought, buys around 60% of its coffee from the social enterprise Raw Material, and shares the raw financial data of the café and the roastery. It does not ask for SCA scores; samples are cupped against its own criteria, so coffees from the lower end of the specialty scale can make the list.
Greytone Coffee, St Paul’s
Greytone Coffee is a minimalist shop in St Paul’s, designed as a quiet place to slow down. It roasts its own coffee and moves away from the usual split between espresso and filter roasts, aiming instead for a balanced roast that works with any brewing method and stays true to the origin. The coffees are single origins from Ethiopia, Colombia, Peru and Kenya, each sold under the name of its farm, producer or washing station, among them a geisha from Ebert Huaman Villegas, who placed 18th at the 2023 Cup of Excellence in Peru.
Sweven Coffee, Bedminster
Sweven Coffee was founded in 2019 by Jimmy and Aga Dimitrov, who met in a coffee shop in 2010; sweven is an archaic word for a dream or a vision. It roasts a small collection of rare lots from producers it has worked with for years, in a light Nordic style, with filter roasts that keep a coffee’s acidity and espresso roasts refined for solubility and balance. The café in Bedminster serves a rotating menu of rare and exclusive coffees, including a limited frozen offering, with cakes chosen to go with them. Sweven is the subject of Angel of the South, the third issue of the Manchester coffee magazine Dial In.
OddKin Coffee Roasters, Hengrove
OddKin Coffee Roasters roasts in Hengrove, and the roastery’s doors are open for a coffee and for beans to take home. Its single origins come through direct farm relationships and partners such as Cofinet in Colombia, and its Blend Friends series of collaborative blends began with Full Court Press. The roastery doubles as a training room for SCA Barista Skills courses, a latte art workshop and an espresso workshop. OddKin was head sponsor of the Bristol Coffee Festival in 2025.
Small Street Espresso, the Old City
Small Street Espresso has served espresso, filter coffee, cakes and sandwiches in the Old City since 2012. The house roast comes from Clifton Coffee in Bristol, with guest roasters from Bristol, the rest of the UK and further afield, and the breads, cakes and pastries are made in Bristol.
New Cut Coffee, Wapping Wharf
New Cut Coffee was founded in 2021 and sits in The Art Warehouse at Wapping Wharf, on the Floating Harbour. It is run by Jack Hudspith and Katy Evans, who have worked in Bristol coffee since the early 2010s. Colonna Coffee roasts for it, and New Cut built its range with the roastery: a house blend of Colombia, Brazil and Zambia on espresso, with the same three coffees brewed on their own as single-origin espresso, batch brew and hand brew. There are cakes and sandwiches, and the café is family, child and dog friendly.
Coffee + Beer, Cotham
Coffee + Beer is a coffee shop, craft beer shop and tap room in Cotham. New coffees go on espresso and filter every week from roasters around the UK and occasionally beyond, and the shelves carry bags from Square Mile, Dark Arts, Origin, Round Hill, Triple Co, Hard Lines and Crankhouse. On the beer side there are two rotating taps and around 100 beers on the shelves from modern British breweries.
What you need to know about Bristol specialty coffee
Which Bristol coffee shops roast their own coffee? Wogan, Full Court Press, Greytone, Sweven and OddKin roast their own. Full Court Press also pours guest roasters at its Old City shop.
Which roasters do the other cafés pour? Small Street Espresso has a house roast from Clifton Coffee with guest roasters, New Cut Coffee pours Colonna, and Coffee + Beer changes its espresso and filter coffees every week.
Where can you take a barista course? Wogan runs multi-day SCA barista courses in the same building as the Brew Bar, and OddKin runs SCA Barista Skills courses and latte art and espresso workshops at its roastery.
Where can you buy beans in your own container? Wogan’s Bean Shop welcomes containers brought from home.
Where can you try more than one coffee at once? Wogan serves coffee flights, along with tasting and cupping sessions.
Is there coffee on the harbour? New Cut Coffee is at Wapping Wharf on the Floating Harbour, and it welcomes families, children and dogs.
Photo credits
Photographs belong to the businesses and are reproduced from their official websites with attribution.
