Robusta Revival

Specialty grade coffee

Founders of Black Sheep Coffee, Eirik and Gabriel, had a very simple mission when they started the business, “rid the world of boring, average tasting coffee”. As disrupters they wanted to challenge the status quo of the specialty coffee market and that is why Black Sheep Coffee is famous for its 100% specialty grade Robusta coffee beans, the only specialty coffee business in the UK to have it as a specialty house bean.
At Black Sheep Coffee, we knew the only way to break through the traditional barriers of an Arabica-dominated specialty coffee market was by doing something different. Something new. Something bold. And so, we did. Black Sheep Coffee was the world’s first coffee chain to use specialty grade 100% Robusta coffee in an Arabica dominated specialty coffee market.
The caffeine content of our Robusta Revival Beans has a higher rate of absorption than Arabica beans. This creates for a more intense, long lasting caffeine effect that makes for a much more powerful coffee experience. Our high-caffeine, expertly roasted beans create an extremely low-acid, non-bitter cup of coffee with tasting notes of dark chocolate and hazelnut.
Today, the Founders still source coffee beans directly at the plantations We take our coffee very seriously, after all it is what our reputation and brand are built upon. All our coffees are specialty grade and where possible single origin. Our coffee beans are fully traceable to the producer.  We operate a fair trade, direct trade model that incentivizes the farmers with premiums for their harvest based on quality and social metrics, resulting in an increase in sustainable farming practices and quality of life for farmers.
Our chosen beans are subject to 47 quality checks during and post roasting to ensure that we secure the perfect consistency and taste from each and every bean.
Once roasted, our coffee gurus cup, sample and put every batch of beans through their paces in our coffee lab below the Black Sheep Coffee support office.

SOURCING RESPONSIBLY

We have been committed to sustainability and social responsibility since Black Sheep Coffee started trading in 2013.
Our beans are sourced direct from the best small producers we can find and we focus on coffee beans that have a story to tell.
We are fully committed to our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and have embraced the Ethical Trade Initiative [“ETI”] Base Code of labour practice.
The ETI Base Code is formulated around the conventions of the International Labour Organisation and covers issues like fair wages, hours of work, safety conditions and discrimination. Many of our growers are members of internationally trusted quality assurance schemes such as SEDEX, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, Fairtrade and Organic.
For our farmers that produce small harvests specifically for us, Eirik and Gabriel personally visit them all to ensure they have fair pay, ethical working conditions and welfare packages. Take Nishant Gurjer who produces our specialty grade single estate Robusta beans in India, for example. Nishant pays fairly, employs safe and ethical work practices, offers maternity/paternity packages and a pension scheme.