We've finally handed over the keys to our previous roastery! As we packed up, we uncovered so many bits and bobs to remind us of all the things we’d done in our “Barras Era”. Read on as we take a trip back in time…
2015
Our first cafe-space, 10-Week Project
Our first foray into a cafe-style space, 10 Week Project, evolved from our coffee setup at the 2014 Empire Cafe at The Briggait and ran from March to September 2015, and again in 2016.
We were able to build upon what had been started by the Empire Cafe and make it our own, collaborating with and supporting many small businesses and artists along the way.
Competitive roasting gets heated
2015 also saw us launch and co-host the UK Roasting Championship for the Specialty Coffee Association, alongside Coffee Nexus. The competition pitted 14 competitors against each other, challenging them to roast, grade, and develop roast profiles. The event took place over three days at our new roastery, and the winner represented the UK for the first time in the World Championships.
2016
A whole year in East Campbell Street
By 2016, we celebrated our first full year in East Campbell Street! We hosted the UK Barista Championships and were a winner in the Scottish Edge competition. We also supported the set-up of the Roasters Guild of Europe. We’ve hosted many events since, and in 2016, we were overdue for a celebration, so we celebrated with Dear Green’s 7th birthday bash.
The year also marked the start of a winning streak for Dear Green with James winning the Scottish Aeropress Championships and representing Dear Green and Scotland at the World Aeropress Championship in Dublin.
2017
In 2017, we attended international coffee events in London, Hungary, and Poland, and hosted the UK Barista Championship heat, as well as the UK Brewers Cup Final.
We’ve welcomed new members to our team and started a program to offer SCA Accredited Diploma classes in Sensory Skills and Barista Skills.
Taking an Origin trip to Kenya
We went on another origin trip, this time to Kenya, a country steeped in coffee history. Known for its tongue-tingling fruity flavour notes and tea-like mouthfeel, we’ve had some seriously high-scoring brews from here in the past.
Our trip to Nairobi had the intention of finding a long-term partner to work with, we cupped over 400 coffees in 4 days and travelled ‘up country’ to visit producers around the Nyeri area. We learned a great deal about this origin, including its incredibly high-quality coffees, its colonial past, the challenges of climate change, and the hurdles producers face in accessing export markets. We successfully sourced our first coffee directly from the origin.
2018
Lisa attains her Q-Grader qualification
2018 marked not just an exciting and successful year for Dear Green as a business, but also for Lisa on a personal and professional level, earning the prestigious title of Q-Grader.
As a universally recognised qualification, Q-graders approach coffee similarly to a wine sommelier, able to evaluate Arabica coffee and identify key flavour characteristics, denoting its overall quality.
To obtain a license, Q Graders must undergo rigorous training and pass a strict examination. This ensures a global standard for coffee, enabling customers to make informed decisions about their coffee drinks. It’s a huge responsibility, and one that we think Lisa wears well!
Visiting Brazil
As one of the world’s biggest coffee producers, Brazil is a mecca for coffee roasters, and in 2018, we made our first trip there!
On this particular trip, we visited Fazenda Pantano. This truly fantastic coffee farm has remained a staple feature of our single-origin offerings and is one of the oldest coffee farms in the country.
In addition to its formidable reputation earned in the wake of its incredibly complex coffee, Fazenda Pantano is also considered a standard-setter for sustainable coffee farming, thanks to its pioneering techniques. If this wasn’t enough, it also funds a local school and several training schemes for its staff, and is certified by UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance—a match made in heaven!
First Craic - a gathering for coffee people
Back in Glasgow, one of the highlights was hosting First Craic. Our additional feature to the SCA UK Coffee Roasting Championship, First Craic, provided an opportunity for the coffee community to come together and engage in conversation, alongside roasting demonstrations, guest speakers, panel discussions, and cuppings of competition coffees.
Visiting Rwanda and Burundi
Dear Green also made an origin trip to Rwanda and Burundi. While Rwanda is an established player within the coffee scene, known for its complex, fruity brews, Burundi is one of the newest players. Having made some serious waves with its Arabica production, we had to make the trip a double-bill to learn more.
A country ravaged by civil war as recently as the 1990s, our visit to Burundi was a real eye-opener as we learned more about the complexities and ethics of coffee production in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Despite the challenges Burundi faces, coffee farming represents a strong step towards a brighter future, particularly in the hands of women-owned cooperative Rama Dufatanemunda. We were lucky enough to secure their first harvest and have purchased their coffee ever since.
We won Glasgow’s Favourite Business 2018!
Rounding out 2018 was an exciting award win, as Dear Green earned the title of Glasgow’s Favourite Business at the 21st annual award ceremony!
Placing us alongside Glaswegian household names. It was a huge honour to be recognised by the business community in the city from which we derive our name.
2019
Setting up our next cafe, PROJECT by Dear Green!
While we’d enjoyed doing pop-up coffee spots in the past, PROJECT represented Dear Green’s first-ever permanent space, in South Block on Osborne Street.
A chilled-out space for resident artists, designers and visitors to enjoy our seasonal coffees and local artwork, PROJECT also hosted importer cuppings to bring the local coffee community together. Project worked closely with local bakeries like Big Bear, Kitty's Donuts and Deanston Bakery to raise the bar of cafe offerings in Glasgow’s city centre.
Sadly, PROJECT closed during the pandemic, but we’re working on its next incarnation!
Visiting Colombia
Next on our coffee travels was the South American coffee giant, Colombia! Every visit to a coffee farming country is special in its own way, but what made this visit particularly noteworthy was its focus on bringing women in coffee roasting and coffee farming together to clarify occasionally blurry supply chains.
As another country affected by civil war, coffee farming has allowed rural communities affected by extensive conflict to come together peacefully and produce coffee of ever-increasing quality. So taken are we by their produce that in 2021, 21.2% of Dear Green's roasted coffee output was produced by the country’s AMACA and ASMUCAFE Associations.
Overtone Brewing collab
We love a collab at Dear Green, and this particular project with Overtone Brewing has been one of our favourites over the years.
An IPA crafted with Rwanda beans, provided by Dear Green, this incredible beer showcases the juicy acidity, notes of plum, and brown sugar sweetness of the coffee, complemented by Overtone’s malty, sweet IPA. A match made in heaven for beer and coffee lovers alike!
2020
What do you do when the world comes to a standstill?
Like many businesses worldwide, 2020 was a challenging year for Dear Green, due to the pandemic's constraints. To preserve the social aspect that’s so often intrinsic to the coffee drinking experience, we had a good, long think about how we could maintain coffee culture in the face of isolation.
GCF: To The Streets
While Glasgow Coffee Festival couldn’t take place in its usual guise for obvious reasons, our first solution was Glasgow Coffee Festival: To The Streets, an event that encouraged Glaswegians to explore the myriad of coffee shops in every corner of the city.
For just a fiver, ticket holders were entitled to incredible discounts to not only enjoy delicious coffee but also provide support for businesses that had struggled with the effects of the pandemic’s restrictions.
Virtual cupping sessions
In addition to providing an injection of support for Glasgow’s coffee shops, we were also looking for ways to help coffee fans develop their knowledge and understanding.
This led us to running Zoom-based cupping sessions, which allowed enthusiasts to participate in in-depth cupping sessions from the comfort of their own home. While we don’t currently offer cupping experiences as we move to our new roastery, watch this space for updates!
Putting the ‘green’ in Dear Green
After a challenging 2020, it was time for some good news. If you know Dear Green, you’ll know that one of our proudest achievements was attaining B-Corp status in 2020. Since Dear Green began, our brand ethics have been at the heart of every decision we make. From our environmental and social responsibility to the sourcing of our coffee and our role in the broader coffee industry, no decision is made without considering these factors.
Because of this keen attention to detail, we were able to pass B-Lab’s rigorous certification requirements, signifying our commitment to transparency and accountability in favour of protecting our planet, its people, and its ecosystem.
2021
Racing to Net Zero
In addition to our B Corp certification, 2021 also marked the year we made our Net Zero Pledge alongside 900 other B Corp businesses as part of the Race to Zero campaign. Since then, we’ve made significant strides in our B Corp score, moving ever closer to our Net Zero goal and supporting others by donating with purpose through the 1% for the Planet network.
Winning more awards!
2021 continued the trend of awards for Dear Green, this time in the form of the Green Champion Award at the Glasgow Business Awards, the Sustainability Award at the Scotsman Scran Awards, and the VIBES Good Practice Award. Not too shabby!
2022
Glasgow Coffee Festival returns
After a three-year, COVID-19-induced hiatus, Glasgow Coffee Festival made a triumphant return to The Briggait. As the biggest GCF to date, this was undoubtedly an exhilarating and affirming moment for our team!
On top of this, profits from GCF22 went to a fundraiser organised by the Ukrainian-run Deanston Bakery to support the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Dear Green gets quizzical, quizzical!
What’s better than a pub quiz? The Big Fat Coffee Quiz of the Year, of course! After spending nearly two years isolated and indoors, 2022 was all about getting the gang back together and reconnecting with our coffee community. What better way to do that than with a bit of friendly competition over pizza and beer?
Featuring your usual question rounds and picture rounds, TBFCQY up the stakes with unique sensory rounds, a latte art competition, and even an Aeropress/Aerobie Ring toss. Perhaps we should bring back an even Bigger, Fatter Coffee Quiz of the Year to celebrate our new roastery?
Dear Green goes metal \m/
While it’s no secret that we love to work with local businesses, this is a direction we’d never explored before as we collaborated with Glaswegian metal band, Bleed From Within!
Celebrating the release of their album, Shrine, we created a brew-tal blend that was suitably heavy on flavour, featuring Brazil Fazenda Pantano, Mexico Zapoteco and Peru Grananzilla.
2023
Anna enters the UK Coffee Roasting Championship
While we’ve spoken collectively about team Dear Green up until this point, we can’t miss the opportunity to talk about the incredible talents of our now Head of Coffee and Operations, Anna, who in 2023 entered the UK Coffee Roasting Championship for the first time.
Having only roasted for a year at the time of entry, this required not only a great deal of hard work but also considerable courage. Thanks to her diligence and preparation, Anna earned herself a highly respectable 6th place across the whole competition. Well done, Anna!
Celebrating International Women’s Day
Despite a shift in recent times, the coffee industry has long been male-dominated. As a woman-owned and led coffee roastery, we wanted to create an event to bring together the many amazing women who work in the broader industry.
This led to the inception of our Celebration of Women in Coffee event. The first of its kind in Scotland, it provided an opportunity to speak candidly about our shared and individual experiences, to network, and, above all, to empower and inspire one another.
The event also featured the launch of our All The Ladies product, which showcased three different coffees from women’s co-ops in Colombia, Burundi, and Rwanda. Big up all the ladies!
Dear Green visit Ethiopia (again!)
Making our way back to the birthplace of coffee, the trip was a return to our longstanding connection and commitment to visiting our coffee-producing partners, and it was an opportunity to learn more from our friends at Daye Bensa, who generously hosted us and Gold Box roastery, thanks to Falcon, who connected us and scheduled the trip.
We roasted more and more coffees from Ethiopia during the pandemic, giving them the popularity they deserve. From Bombe to Odaco, Rumadamo to Hamasho, we visited washing stations, farms, and mills. Outside of Bensa and Sidama, we also ventured to Guji and Yirgacheffe, and visited the Stumping Project that we had donated to. A thoroughly worthwhile trip after our world of coffee had been disconnected from in-person experiences for so long.
Another award-winning year!
In 2023, we also received an award that truly reflected our vision for Dear Green. Thanks to the immense efforts of our Sustainability Coordinator, Martha, Dear Green was named Net-Zero Business of the Year at the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards.
We are truly a better B Corp, thanks to Martha’s efforts in leading sustainability and advocacy initiatives, as well as tracking our carbon footprint.
The event itself was also a real hit, with words from keynote speaker Kirsty Wark being a particular highlight, and it was truly inspirational to be surrounded by so many women-led businesses.
A Bute of a party
It should be evident by now that we at Dear Green love to travel, and that goes for trips around our beautiful Scottish home, too!
We were lucky enough to be invited along to Isle of Bute Coffee (the home of our Bute Blend)’s second birthday party. While we knew it would be a fun time, we didn’t realise just how inspiring and affirming an experience it would be. Check out our diary of our visit to Bute.
2024
Visited the world’s first B Corp coffee farm in Brazil
2024 marked a renewed relationship with our friends at Daterra Coffee in Brazil, and we were impressed not only by their passion for growing delicious coffee but also by their commitment to sustainable practices.
With 50% of its land dedicated to environmental preservation (30% more than the legal requirement), and utilising water repurposing techniques and byproduct composting, Daterra has worked tirelessly to improve the efficiency of its farming, significantly reducing its environmental impact in the process.
Much like ourselves, Daterra is committed to consistently upping its game to exceed environmental preservation standards wherever possible. We salute you!
Introducing: Roast Hero!
2024 also saw the launch of our inaugural Roast Hero competition at Glasgow Coffee Festival. Inspired by the Nordic Coffee Festival’s Best Roaster Competition, Roast Hero was designed to celebrate each of the qualities that make a great roaster.
The competition invited each roastery to roast and cup the same coffee alongside a coffee from their range, which culminated in a hotly contested blind tasting. After the dust settled, we’re pleased to say that our very own Head Roaster Anna came in an impressive second place.
2025
Daye Bensa visit Dear Green!
We love to share the stories of our coffee farmers, but it’s always better to hear the stories straight from the source!
We had the honour of hosting The Coffee Legends and Daye Bensa at our roastery for the Glasgow launch of their book, Bunna: Ethiopian Coffee – A Modern-Day Story. Taking a deep dive into the country’s rich coffee heritage, the evening also featured tastings and discussions around preserving Ethiopia’s coffee-growing culture for the enjoyment of many generations to come.
Showcase shows face
We’ve been lucky enough to experience some truly mind-bending coffees over the years. From pioneering processing methods to exclusives from the most micro of micro-lots, we wanted to draw extra attention to these roasts that are simply too good to miss.
Debuting in April at Glasgow Coffee Festival 2025, the Showcase range is not only the cream of the coffee crop in terms of taste; it also allowed us to change up our packaging for a look we’re totally in love with! Read all about it on Anna’s latest blog!
Micro Roastery of the Year? Guess who!
Beginning 2025 with a bang, we were honoured with the accolade of Micro Roastery of the Year 2025 by Roast Magazine.
While this would be a cause for celebration no matter what, it was made particularly special by the fact that we’d used Roast magazine as our bible when we were first setting up Dear Green over a decade ago. Not only this, but we’re the first roaster outside of the US to make the grade - a huge honour, and a testament to the hard work of our team.
And beyond… So that was the last ten years at East Campbell Street. A pretty busy decade, we’d say!
With the launch of our new Roastery at 101 Brook Street, the sky is the limit for what we can achieve in the next ten years. With so many exciting ideas for the space, we can’t wait to invite you in, so keep your eyes on our social channels and subscribe to our newsletter for further updates on the bright future of Dear Green.