Hot Numbers takes its name from an old Cambridge record store. Its founder, Simon, discovered coffee while studying saxophone in Melbourne, where a barista job to support his studies became a revelation, and started the business back in the UK out of his own mix of “engineering, music and flat-white-obsession”. Jazz and blues play in all the coffee shops, and Hot Numbers hosts gigs and live music.

The coffee is roasted in small batches at The Roastery in Shepreth, which is also the company’s headquarters, a bakery and a coffee training centre. Its café serves sourdough and cakes from an open kitchen and wood-fired pizza nights, and the industrial room opens onto a garden furnished with salvaged pieces. The original coffee shop is in a former Victorian brewery a few minutes from Cambridge station, with communal tables. The city-centre shop, steps from the Fitzwilliam Museum, has long sharing tables, rotating art exhibitions and a garden. Both serve brunch, and well-behaved dogs are welcome at every location.

The roastery keeps eight to ten coffees on the go, from chocolatey blends to fruit-led single origins, and buys from small farms through importers such as Osito and Omwani. The Body and Soul blend is the one served daily in the Cambridge cafés, and the Breakfast Wine blend, named after a jazz standard, was the first Hot Numbers made. The coffee also goes to independent cafés, venues and offices across the region, and in 2026 Hot Numbers was shortlisted for Business of the Year (Medium) at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Hot Numbers Coffee Roasters