Liverpool’s specialty coffee story starts with one café. Bold Street Coffee opened in 2010, five friends bought a roaster around the corner in 2014, and the city has been working outward from there ever since: a roastery in the Ten Streets, a café in Aigburth that began as a three-wheeled van, a 2024 roaster in the Georgian Quarter started by three people who met working in the city’s cafés. Today Liverpool’s coffee shops and roasters run from warehouse roasteries to brunch kitchens.
Crosby Coffee, the Ten Streets, Waterloo and Aigburth
Jack Foster founded Crosby Coffee in 2014, roasting at home and selling at local markets under the name of his hometown; Mark Slinger joined as co-owner in 2016. The founding belief is that specialty coffee should be accessible to everyone, and the business has grown into a roastery with a public counter and three coffee houses. Every bean is roasted in-house at the Ten Streets roastery, where the Roastery Coffee House runs courses from roastery tours to latte art, cupping and home barista classes. The coffee houses in Waterloo, Aigburth (the Lark Lane Coffee House) and Hightown serve loose-leaf teas alongside the coffee, with a rotating seasonal food menu.
92 Degrees, the Georgian Quarter and across the city
The five friends behind 92 Degrees learned to roast in a meeting room in the Georgian Quarter, bought a roaster in 2014 and opened on a corner there in January 2015, by its own account Liverpool’s first combined micro-roastery and coffee shop. The name is the ideal espresso extraction temperature; the slogan is “Damn Fine Coffee for everyone”. The roastery is now on the waterfront, there are more than twenty locations across the North West and Scotland and more than a hundred staff, and the Liverpool shops include the Georgian Quarter original, one in the Baltic Triangle and counters at Central and Lime Street stations.
Bold Street Coffee
The original Bold Street Coffee café has been part of Liverpool’s hospitality scene since 2010 and serves specialty coffee, bakes and brunch all day, every day, under the banner “Specialty Coffee, Northern Hospitality”. There are now eight sites across Liverpool, Manchester and Glossop, including The Plaza, Duke Street Market and the Climbing Hangar at the Matchworks, and the business sells ten single-origin coffees online.
Press Bros Coffee, Aigburth and the Baltic Market
Brothers Oli and Tito started Press Bros in 2017 with a converted Piaggio Ape van collected from Bristol, trading at the Baltic Market in Cains Brewery, and opened their first shop in Aigburth during lockdown. “Brunch merchants serving good times”: specialty coffee and cinnamon buns baked daily. The Baltic Market stall stays late with cocktails and coffee, and the brothers have begun roasting, with a washed Colombian from Huila as their first release.
Two Words Coffee, the Georgian Quarter
Three friends who met working in Liverpool’s cafés, Tian Tso, Allison Whorton and Tom Sumner, founded Two Words in 2024. They roast small batches in the Georgian Quarter: single origins only, with no dark roasts and no blends. They visited Finca Puerto Alegre in Quindío, Colombia, in September 2024, buy through fair cooperatives when a single estate is not possible, and supply cafés, restaurants and subscribers across the UK. There is no café, but the beans turn up around the city.
Bean There, a South Liverpool coffee shop and bakery
Bean There has served South Liverpool since 2017 as an independent specialty coffee shop, kitchen and, more recently, bakery. The coffee shop serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, from a veggie breakfast with vegan sausages to toasted sandwiches on sourdough, with a vegan option on several dishes, cakes and sweet and savoury bakes. The bakery is a separate site a short way from the coffee shop, baking sourdough, viennoiserie, pastries and cakes.
Mother Espresso, a café in the Ropewalks
Mother Espresso occupies the Tea Factory in the Ropewalks. The coffee comes as espresso, batch brew, V60 pour-over or cold brew, with a list of loose teas from Darjeeling to Lapsang Souchong. The counter has everything bagels boiled and baked fresh daily and sausage rolls hand-filled and baked daily, and the kitchen serves a full breakfast, eggs Benedict and grilled cheese toasties.
What you need to know about Liverpool specialty coffee
Which of these coffee businesses started on Merseyside? Crosby, 92 Degrees, Press Bros, Two Words and Bean There all started on Merseyside. Bold Street Coffee began as a single café in 2010 and is now part of the GSG Hospitality group.
Where are the roasters? Crosby in the Ten Streets, 92 Degrees on the waterfront and Two Words in the Georgian Quarter. Crosby’s Roastery Coffee House is the only one with a public counter.
Where is the brunch? Bold Street Coffee, Press Bros, Bean There and Mother Espresso all run kitchens; Crosby’s coffee houses serve a seasonal food menu.
Photo credits
Photographs belong to the businesses and are reproduced from their official websites with attribution.
