Full Court Press opened in 2013 in Bristol’s Old City as a multi-roaster coffee shop, buying from roasters in the UK and around the world. It now roasts its own coffee and serves it alongside guest roasters, with two espresso and two filter options on the menu boards at all times and a menu that changes weekly. The name comes from basketball, where a full court press is an all-out defence with no compromise.

The roastery runs an electric Stronghold S7 Pro on a fully renewable electricity supply, with an afterburner and a six-stage filtration system in place of a flue. Fency runs it: she worked as a barista in the shop, visited coffee producers in Yunnan, and came back as a Q Grader with SCA roasting and green coffee qualifications. In its first year of roasting FCP offered 69 single origins from 18 countries. The roastery’s own coffee bar in The Dings offers the whole range, with sixteen coffees on the menu, single-dosed and kept frozen.

FCP buys small amounts through importers and is open about what it pays: for each coffee it gives the green price per kilo and the kilos bought. Around 60% of its coffee comes from Raw Material, a social enterprise that reinvests all its profits in coffee prices and producer communities. It does not ask for SCA scores: samples are cupped without reference against its own criteria, so a coffee at the lower end of the specialty scale can still make the list. It also shares the raw financial data of the café and the roastery.

The Old City shop is small and oddly shaped, by its own account, and keeps a folding ramp for buggies and wheelchairs. Besides coffee there are local soft drinks, teas and hot chocolate.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Full Court Press