Our Coffee | Northern Espresso

Delicious coffee, roasted for your event

The coffee we serve at your event is the same coffee we roast, blend, test and drink ourselves.

Northern Espresso is freshly roasted in our micro-roastery and timed around your booking, so it reaches your event rested and ready to serve.

We source the beans, roast the blend, taste each batch and serve it on the day. That gives us proper control over the coffee your guests are drinking, from green bean to final cup.

Home About Our Coffee

Ethically sourced, seasonal blends

The beans that go into Northern Espresso are sourced via importers who deal directly with the coffee farmers. This direct trading relationship means we know our coffee is sourced ethically and sustainably, from locations across the globe.

Northern Espresso at a glance

Our own blend, hand-roasted in-house at our micro-roastery
Every batch roasted and rested in time for your event date
Beans arrive green and are roasted at 180°C to 200°C, then rested for around 10 days to reach peak flavour
Built from two coffees, one for the base and one to bring the character
Sourced through importers with direct farmer relationships, and fully traceable
Blend changes to match the coffee seasons
Cupped, tasted and trained on by the team before every new batch goes out

Why freshly roasted coffee matters at events

Coffee has a short window where it tastes its best. After roasting, it needs time to settle, and then the flavour starts to fade.

We roast and rest every batch of Northern Espresso specifically for your event, so it reaches your guests right in that window.

You’ll find average coffee at plenty of events. We built Northern Espresso to guarantee something better, batch after batch.

Northern Espresso: the blend

Northern Espresso is built to work equally well as a straight espresso or with milk. Rounded enough for everyday drinkers, layered enough to hold its own with coffee regulars.

We build every batch from two coffees: one to steady the base, one to bring the character. What that character tastes like changes with the beans we’re working with each season.

What we’re looking for in every batch, whatever the beans:

Sweetness and bright acidity, kept in balance

Enough complexity to stay layered and interesting

Character that comes through whether it’s black or with milk

Ethically sourced, direct-trade beans

The beans in Northern Espresso are sourced through importers who trade directly with coffee farmers. That direct relationship means we can trace where our coffee comes from and how it’s grown, and it’s the kind of transparency we look for in every supplier we work with.

Coffee is a seasonal crop. Farms around the world harvest at different times of year, so we change the Northern Espresso blend once or twice a year to use the most flavoursome beans available at the time. Past blends have included washed coffees from the Huila Wet Mill Project in Colombia, and a three-origin blend combining Ethiopia (Qorema Cooperative, Oromia), Colombia (Agustino Forest, San Agustín, Huila) and Brazil (Fazenda Ouro Verde, The Cerrado).

Beans arrive at our Yorkshire micro-roastery green and unroasted. From there, they’re roasted, rested and packed ready for your event.

“I could not recommend The Barista enough. The hot drinks were AMAZING with comments from others stating our stand had the best coffee in the entire show! Ash, our Barista, was simply incredible. Professional from the start, providing the same level of care from the first coffee until the last… nearly 500 cups later!”

Emma Crick, AB Agri

How The Barista ensures consistency

Repeating a good blend, batch after batch, takes a process. Here’s what ours looks like:

Training the team on how to serve every new blend

Regular cuppings to test new batches and blends

Sensory training to explore flavour and aroma

Tasting and comparing against other blends and brands

We’re independently audited and accredited by the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), holding a Health & Safety accreditation and a Tier 5 sustainability rating, the highest available.

FAQs

What is Northern Espresso?

Northern Espresso is our signature coffee blend, roasted specifically for The Barista. It's built from two coffees, one for the base and one for character, and works equally well as an espresso or with milk.
Where is your coffee roasted?

We roast Northern Espresso ourselves, in our own micro-roastery in Yorkshire.
How fresh is the coffee at my event?

Every batch is roasted and rested specifically for your event date. Coffee reaches its best flavour around 10 days after roasting, and we time our roasts so your event falls right in that window.
Does the blend ever change?

Yes. Coffee is seasonal, so we change Northern Espresso once or twice a year to use the best beans available at the time.
Is your coffee ethically sourced?

Yes. We source through importers who trade directly with coffee farmers, so we can trace where our beans come from and how they're grown.
Is Northern Espresso sustainable?

We're ESSA Tier 5 accredited, the highest sustainability tier available. We offset our own travel emissions on every UK booking as standard, and if you want to offset more of your event's footprint for your own sustainability goals or reporting, that's available too through our partnership with Ecologi.