Spitfire Coffee Roasters is a Glasgow roaster with two cafés that trade as Spitfire Espresso, one in the Merchant City and one in the West End, and a roastery in the city centre that is open to the public. Its five coffees are sold in the cafés, online and to wholesale customers.

The house blend, Gunnerbean, is a deliberate combination of Brazilian beans from the Vila Boa carbon-neutral farm in the Campos das Vertentes region and Colombian beans from fully traceable Farmgate Initiative cooperatives, in a 70% to 30% ratio. Spitfire credits the Brazilian with a sweet, chocolatey nuttiness and the Colombian with a subtle spice and rounded acidity, and makes the blend for milk drinks such as flat whites and lattes. The green coffee comes through an international depot that deals directly with farmers and cooperatives.

The Spitfire Cafe is a corner coffee shop in the Merchant City, by Glasgow Cross, promising “awesome coffee, excellent food and friendly folk”. The espresso there is Gunnerbean, roasted to bring out chocolate and nutty notes and served on its own or in a flat white or latte, and the shots are pulled on a red La Marzocco FB70. The Spitfire Cafe (West) is the second Spitfire Espresso shop, in Glasgow’s West End.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Spitfire Coffee Roasters