Square Mile Coffee Review: London's Two-World-Champion Roastery
Key takeaways
Square Mile was founded in 2008 by James Hoffmann (World Barista Champion 2007) and Anette Moldvaer (World Cup Tasters Champion 2007) — two world titles between the two founders before the roastery even existed.
The name is a nod to the 'Square Mile' — the City of London's financial district — not the size of the operation.
Red Brick is the signature espresso blend: red apple, toffee and chocolate, and the coffee that put the roastery on the map.
Everything is seasonal and sourced directly, roasted in East London, with free UK shipping and worldwide delivery from the webshop.
In 2007, two people won two of the biggest titles in coffee. One won the World Barista Championship. The other won the World Cup Tasters Championship. A year later, instead of cashing in the fame separately, they opened a roastery together in London and called it Square Mile.
If you drink specialty coffee in the UK, you have almost certainly had a Square Mile coffee — knowingly or not. This is the story of how two champions built the roastery that taught a generation of British cafés what good coffee tastes like, and which of their coffees to start with. You can browse every Square Mile coffee on Cuppd while you read — there are 19 of them in the catalog right now.
Two world titles, then a roastery
James Hoffmann won the World Barista Championship in 2007. Anette Moldvaer — who'd started out as a barista in Norway years earlier and had already worked every corner of the trade, from green buying to cupping to training — won the World Cup Tasters Championship the same year. In 2008 they put the two together and founded Square Mile Coffee Roasters in London.
World Barista Championship: the sport's headline event — competitors have 15 minutes to serve espresso, milk drinks and a signature drink to a panel of judges. World Cup Tasters is the palate event: identify the odd cup out of sets of three, by taste alone, against the clock.
The name isn't about size — it's a nod to the 'Square Mile', the old City of London financial district. It was one of the first dedicated wholesale specialty roasters in the city, and it quickly became the largest. The influence spread fast: the 2008 World Barista Champion competed on Square Mile coffee, and so did the 2009 winner. If you learned to pull a decent shot in a British café any time in the last fifteen years, there's a good chance Square Mile beans were in the hopper.
Today the roastery works out of Uplands Business Park in East London, and the day-to-day is run by a full team rather than the two founders alone — roasters, a green-buying operation, wholesale, education and a busy webshop.
Red Brick, and the house style
The coffee that made the name is Red Brick — the seasonal espresso blend. It's built to be approachable without being boring: red apple, toffee and chocolate, the kind of shot that works with milk but rewards you black. It changes components through the year as the coffees come into season, but the character stays recognisable. If you only ever try one Square Mile coffee, it's this one.
The broader style sits in the modern-British-specialty sweet spot: lighter than traditional Italian espresso, but not the tea-like Nordic extreme. Espresso blends are roasted a touch darker for body and sweetness; single-origin filters are kept light to show off the fruit. Nothing is roasted so pale that your average café customer sends it back.
Espresso — start with Red Brick
Seasonal, sourced, single origin
Alongside the blends is a rotating cast of single origins, bought directly and released when they're at their best — Burundi, Colombia, Peru, Kenya, Uganda and Brazil all turn up. This is where Square Mile shows its cupping pedigree: bright, clean, fruit-forward filters that taste of the farm rather than the roast.
Washed vs. natural: 'washed' coffees have the fruit stripped off before drying, giving a cleaner, brighter cup; 'natural' coffees dry inside the fruit, picking up heavier, jammier berry notes. Square Mile buys plenty of both.
Names like Gitwe Hill (Burundi), Calamar (Colombia) and Ayacucho (Peru) come and go with the seasons — so if one you love appears, don't sit on it. The webshop is the reliable place to catch them.
Filter & single origins
The clever decaf and half-caff bit
Most roasters treat decaf as an afterthought. Square Mile treats it as a proper category — sugarcane-process and EA decafs sourced with the same care as the rest, plus a genuinely smart idea: half-caff. Blend a good decaf with a good regular coffee 50/50, and you get an afternoon cup with half the caffeine and none of the compromise on flavour.
Decaf & half-caff — the clever bit
Fun fact
Square Mile also runs an education programme, 'The Twelve Lessons' — and co-founder Anette Moldvaer literally wrote the book on it: 'Coffee Obsession', a bestselling guide translated into a dozen languages.
Where to get it
Online: the webshop at squaremilecoffee.com ships free across the UK and delivers worldwide, with a subscription option if you'd rather not think about reordering.
In cafés: Square Mile is one of the most widely poured specialty roasters in Britain — plenty of independent cafés across the UK and beyond serve it, so you can taste before you commit to a bag.
Should you order a bag?
If you want one coffee that reliably makes a great flat white and a great black espresso, order Red Brick and stop overthinking it. If you want to see what two world champions think a clean, bright filter should taste like, grab whichever single origin is in season. Either way, brew it, drink it, and rate what you find on Cuppd — the community tasting notes are exactly for deciding what to try next.