Prov Blog | Guest Coffee Roasters 101
WHAT IS A GUEST ROASTER AND WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT THEM?
You’ve probably seen us hyping up our “latest Guest Roaster” on Instagram or had one of our team ask if you’d like to try the newest “Guest Filter” and thought, “What’s this all about?” Well, let us spill the beans! Guest Roasters at your favourite coffeehouse are all about giving you the chance to explore unique coffees you might not stumble upon otherwise. It’s a fun way to try something new, and maybe even discover your next go-to brew.
The best part—if you fall in love with a guest roast, you can grab a 250g bag from our retail shelves to enjoy at home. So even when we’ve moved on to the next roaster, you can still savour that flavour in your home brews.
Whether you’re a seasoned coffee explorer eagerly awaiting the next guest roast or someone curious but unsure where to start, this latest blog from Steve will break down everything you need to know about how and why we pick our Guest Roasters. That way, next time you pop in, you’ll be ready to choose the perfect cup for you.
What Is All This Guest Roaster Malarkey?
At the start of 2024, we decided to commit to trying something different with our coffee offering.
We absolutely love Landmark, our house blend from Heartland Coffee Roasters, as well as their varied range of Single Origin coffees which we have on monthly rotation on our second coffee grinder (right now we have a sublime Honduras Abeja Anaerobic which we couldn’t recommend more).
For our filter/batch brew we had the opportunity to offer something different so we decided to rotate a new guest coffee roaster on filter every month. So what is a guest coffee roaster? You’ve probably already figured it out but just in case; it’s a coffee roaster whose beans are featured temporarily at a coffeehouse. Instead of only serving their usual house beans, they bring in coffee beans from this roaster for a limited time only.
We wanted to showcase amazing people, roasting incredible coffee in Wales and further afield, by introducing their coffee to Prov. We have the privilege of welcoming so many wonderful people through our door every day so it makes sense to use our platform to share what we think are some of the best coffee roasters we’ve come across and hear your thoughts on them too.
How Do We Choose Guest Roasters?
Our first step, at the start of this year, was to choose Guest Roasters we wanted to feature for the months ahead. We went to the people who live, drink and (try to) sleep coffee every day: our team! The team come from diverse backgrounds and their experiences bring them in contact with some phenomenal coffees. We asked them to provide recommendations for Guest Roasters, a couple of recommendations quickly became a few; became many; became a long list of wonderful options! Some roasts have come through recommendations from customers too.
A number of roasters have also taken the time to get in touch with us! Either seeing us sharing our current guest on socials and getting in touch there, or dropping into the coffeehouse and starting the conversation with us in person. It’s been great getting to know so many passionate people in coffee.
The criteria we use to pick from all the recommendations looks something like this…
Balanced - even if the roast is a little out there, we still want it to be balanced so it’s accessible for the majority of people. Ultimately we want something that can be an enjoyable and explorative experience for all of our coffee community. Put simply: no gatekeeping! We want the coffees we choose to present to you to be delicious and interesting, while being a great guide into anyone’s first tentative steps into the world of coffee.
Secret Sauce - that something, something extra. It might be a leading sustainability ethos, stellar social values or an innovative approach to roasting, relationships or branding. It might be Welsh roots, showcasing local people and products.
Unique - we want whatever roast we feature to be different, maybe quirky or experimental. This might be because of the variety of coffee beans used or the roasting process, there are a number of variables that influence a coffee’s flavour profile.
Delicious on Filter - obviously having a great tasting roast as a priority goes without saying but all guest roasts that we choose have to be suited to our brewing process which in this case is always filter. We want to bring out the very best notes in whatever roast we choose and some roasts will more naturally lend themselves to this brewing process.
Who Have We Had In So Far?
We started off the year with the lovely folks down at Hard Lines Coffee in Cardiff, whom we’ve worked with before, and will doubtless work with again. After this, we stayed in Wales, with Coaltown Coffee Roasters providing the goods for our second month.
Some more guest roasters that we’ve featured and absolutely loved…
Girls Who Grind Coffee - Based in Somerset, GWGC are an all-female team of roasters who source their green coffee from female producers around the world. Not only is their core ethos something we can all get behind, did we mention they roast amazing coffee!? Their Kirindera Women’s Peace coffee, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was our pick for August. Side note: their recent rebrand is looking unreal and we’re here for it.
Dark Woods Coffee - It was the vibrant yellow branding that drew me to their stand at the Manchester Coffee Festival in November 2023. It was their carefully curated selection of coffees that made me stay. I was so excited to get something in from Darkwoods and they certainly did not disappoint. Their Panama La Huella adorned our shelves in June.
Oddy Knocky Coffee - Another Coffee Festival find. These guys are fun and quirky, as well as loving to experiment with some lesser known methods (Banana method anyone?). Their range is always interesting and diverse, making it difficult to choose a favourite. That’s why we’ve had both their Papua New Guinea Bibikala and Burundi Karibu for September. Also, we love the branding (notice the Clockwork Orange reference?)!
What’s To Come From Guest Roasters at Prov?
Spolier alert 📣 (sorry not sorry) for December, we’re so excited to be bringing Dark Arts Coffee to Prov. Their new branding is phenomenal and we took the launch of their rebranding as a sign that it’s finally time to bring their otherworldly coffee to Prov. We can’t wait to share it with you guys.
We hope this Guest Roasters 101 piqued your coffee curiosity. Next time you drop by the Coffeehouse check out our coffee board on the bar or ask our team for our latest coffee selection. If you’re still not sure what to choose, feel free to ask for a sample of our current guest filter and you might just love what you try!
If you have any roasters in mind for 2025, let us know and if you’re a roaster yourself, drop us a line, we’d love to chat!
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