Two Words Coffee is an independent roaster in Liverpool, founded in 2024 by Tian Tso, Allison Whorton and Tom Sumner, three friends who met working in the city’s cafés. The company started out collaborating with the café community on Bold Street and now roasts in the Georgian Quarter, shipping across the UK and Europe. There is no café.

The roasting philosophy is to source excellent coffee from farmers who care about their land and roast it in a way that lets it speak for itself: no dark roasts masking poor quality, no blends hiding origins. Two Words sources from Colombia, Kenya, El Salvador, Ethiopia and beyond; the current range comes from Colombia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya and Peru, and most coffees are roasted for both espresso and filter. When a single estate is not possible, the roaster works with green bean suppliers that buy through fair co-operatives from smallholders at origin.

In September 2024 the founders visited Finca Puerto Alegre in Quindío, Colombia, where Jairo Lopez and his family have grown coffee for three generations under shade cover kept since the 1970s. The natural Castillo from that trip is still in the range. Two Words supplies cafés, restaurants and offices across Liverpool and the UK, and sells three subscriptions online, Discovery, House and Decaf, delivered free within the UK.

The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Coffee on the shelf