NewGround began in Oxford in 2018 as an impact business, under the line “coffee with conviction”. It exists to create training and jobs for people leaving prison. The NewGround Foundation, a registered charity, is the largest single shareholder of the trading company: it runs the NewGround Academy barista course inside prisons and helps graduates into coffee jobs on release. Everyone on the team, including those who join on licence from local prisons, is on the payroll, and NewGround is a Living Wage employer.

The roasting happens on a Loring Smart Roaster at the NewGround Workshop in Headington, a roastery and café where visitors can “see green turn to brown coffee”, with baked goods and a natural wine bottle shop. The second site, a café and wine bar in the city centre, opened in 2023 and pours wine by the glass alongside the coffee, with a bottle shop in the basement. NewGround also supplies cafés, restaurants, hotels and offices, with SCA-approved barista training.

NewGround has been a certified B Corp since 2022 and is certified carbon neutral. Its bright orange bags, made from recycled material, won Coffee Bag Design of the Year at the London Coffee Festival Awards in 2026. The range runs from the seasonal Big House blend and the Fun House filter blend to single lots from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia, and Zukuka Bora in Uganda is in its eighth year in the line-up.

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

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: NewGround Coffee