Nostos takes its name from the ancient Greek word for homecoming, and the business is built on that idea: a return to the essentials of coffee, with Odysseus’s journey back to Ithaca as the image. It opened in Battersea and roasts its own coffee “with clarity and purpose”, for its two London cafés and for brewing “from home setups to the best bars in the world”.

Battersea is the original café, a neighbourhood spot where locals have come since the first day for espresso, filter brews and seasonal coffees picked and roasted by the founding team. The second café, near St James’s Park, is the home of the Experience Bar, where the team works through different brew methods and techniques every day with the aim of bringing the world coffee competition stage into a daily routine. The Aquacode mineral water used for espresso on that bar is sold online, alongside Origami drippers, Sibarist filters and Ni Wares cups.

Homecoming is the everyday collection, chosen to work on both filter and espresso, with coffees such as the COMSA natural from Marcala in Honduras and the Koke natural from Ethiopia’s Gedeo zone. Alongside it run small lots: three Oma lots of Gesha 1931 from Gesha Village in Ethiopia, several coffees from Cafe Granja La Esperanza in Colombia’s Valle del Cauca, and a washed Green Tip Geisha from the Janson Family Estate in Panama. A Sugarcane decaf from Huila is a fixture at both cafés. Homecoming and Roaster’s Choice are sold as monthly subscriptions.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Nostos Coffee