Hi! We’re Two Chimps Coffee, an independent carbon neutral speciality coffee roastery based in the UK’s smallest county, Rutland.

 

Small Team, Big Dream

We’re a small, seven-person team with a passion for opening the world of speciality coffee to everyone. We think that coffee culture can sometimes get a little wrapped up in itself, and we love changing that, making coffee fun and easy to get into.

We found most people are disappointed with their morning brew and leave the house feeling frustrated with their coffee and their coffee-making skills. This is why we roast the freshest coffee and ship it to your door with an easy-to-follow guide, helping you start your day on the right foot.

Our vision is to provide better coffee that doesn’t cost us the earth, and our mission is to introduce more people to better coffee while keeping our planet, our growers and our customers our number one priority.

 

 

Awesome Coffee, No Nonsense Since 2016

In 2016, our head chimps, Andy and Laura, opened the doors to our roastery for the first time. At that time, specialty coffee was relatively new and somewhat elitist. While they loved coffee, they didn’t appreciate that it felt so exclusive, so they decided that Two Chimps would be the solution!

Before they caught the coffee bug, they were wedding photographers, and although the work was fun, the lifestyle wasn’t – wedding photographers work a lot of weekends. Andy was already roasting coffee on a Genecafe home roaster in the studio, and this, combined with a desire for their weekends back, and a lifestyle that would fit their plans to start a family, convinced Andy and Laura to take the idea of starting a coffee roastery seriously.

Some things became immediately became apparent:

• There was a real knowledge gap in the speciality coffee world.
• Information was hard to come by.
• Attitudes were insular.

Overall, things needed simplifying. Which became the guiding principle behind Two Chimps Coffee. We had one goal: to create an accessible, fun, friendly coffee roastery for everyone. And we must be doing something right, as we have recently won the Small Company of the Year 2025 at the Mercury Business Awards! Wahoo!

 

 

What We Do

We hand roast ethically sourced, single-origin speciality coffees from all across the coffee belt! All our beans are arabica (the good stuff) and speciality graded (the REALLY good stuff). Commodity coffee (the opposite of speciality) tends to be grown in massive fields and harvested mechanically.

These harvesting machines also can’t distinguish between ripe and unripe coffee cherries, and instead shake them all off the tree, resulting in a mishmash of sour and bitter notes in the coffee. The solution? Companies burn them to bits to create some sort of uniformity. This is why so much bad coffee tastes the same. It all tastes of burnt roast.

 

 

Cue Specialty Coffee

Specialty brews are a whole new ball game. Grown at high altitudes and harvested by hand, the higher elevation slows down the ripening process of the cherries, allowing the beans to absorb more flavour from the cherry flesh. This results in a more complex and rich taste profile, AKA a superior coffee (hence the name!).

This means the beans we source are the cream of the crop, and when we roast, we NEVER need to burn them. In fact, you’ll never see a pure ‘dark’ roasted coffee here, simply because we don’t need to hide any undesirable flavours since there are none! High five!

This all sounds pretty great right? But it doesn’t stop here! Our coffees are also:

• Of a single origin (one farm or co-operative).
• Sourced via a small supply chain.
• Roasted in small batches multiple times a week to ensure peak freshness.
• Ground to order
• Supporting vital movements to improve the livelihoods of these coffee-growing communities.
• Carbon neutral

 

 

No coffee lasts forever

While we LOVE all the benefits of sourcing single-origin brews, this does mean that sometimes coffees need to change. Each harvest can only provide so much, and although we could wait for the next one, fluctuations in temperature, rainfall, and other environmental factors can significantly affect the flavour of the coffee in your cup.

Instead of offering a coffee that isn’t as good as its predecessor, we shake up our brews’ origins, sourcing one that is just as good (and sometimes even better!). However, we understand this could be frustrating for someone who’s found their perfect cup of joe in one of our coffees. So, we formed our handy colour coded system to keep things nice and simple!

Our current range consists of a lovely rainbow of different colours, but this isn’t just for aesthetics! Each coloured label refers to a particular roast style and set of flavours. For example, our blue-labelled coffee is always a medium/dark roast style, and is strong, punchy and tangy. Whereas our yellow-labelled brew is a light & fruity roast style with sweet and fruity notes. Having this in place means you guys don’t have to worry when we change the origin, as you will get very similar flavours and roast style in its replacement!

Our current standard range consists of the blue, green, pink, orange, yellow, and our purple decaf. Then there are our limited-edition coffees which are: White, Red, and a Lilac decaf.

We also have some seasonal brews coming into play during Christmas and notable events like Mother’s Day. These don’t follow a particular flavour profile, they’re just awesome coffees we find on our adventures.

 

Our Favourite Colour Is Still Green Though

If our motto wasn’t ‘Awesome Coffee, No Nonsense’, it would be ‘Awesome Coffee, Tiny Footprint’. We work hard to make our roastery and the coffee we sell carbon-neutral. We reduce our carbon footprint and minimise waste on-site by using recyclable packaging and paper tape wherever possible.

What we can’t reduce, we offset. Initially, we worked with Ecologi, funding some fantastic projects and planting trees around the world (check out our Two Chimps Forest!), but now we’re taking things a step further and working with Positive Planet to become a real force for good in the fight against climate change.

With these in place, we won the 2025 Mercury Business Award Category for Environmental Champion and were finalists in the 2024 BizX Awards for Green Company of the Year. Go Chimps!

Find out more about sustainability at Two Chimps. 

 

 

From The Mouths Of Chimps

Want to know more about the founders of Two Chimps Coffee? We put ten of the most important questions to Andy and Laura. Here are their answers…

 

If you could have one superpower for the day, what it would be?

Andy – To make the days longer so I can do more fun stuff!

Laura – To never get full or fat from food so I can eat all day long!

 

What’s your favourite song of all time?

Andy – SL2 – On A Ragga Tip.

Laura – Jackie Wilson – Higher and Higher.

 

 

What would your last meal be?

Andy – Sausages and beans under mash with a bit of cheese. It reminds me of when I was young(er!)

Laura – Lasagne with loads of cheese.

 

What’s your go-to brewing device?

Andy – An Espresso Machine. However, if I had my superpower as mentioned above, it would be a Chemex.

Laura – An AeroPress.

 

What flavours do you look for in a coffee?

Andy – Anything out of the ordinary but generally I look for fruity and lighter flavours.

Laura – I look for sweet, chocolatey flavours because they’re smooth and easy to drink.

 

 

What’s your favourite thing about Two Chimps Coffee?

Andy – That we do our bit for the world. We pay our farmers more for their product which means they can improve aspects of their lives. And on the other side, we get to make people smile every day when they drink our coffee.

Laura – That we get to meet our customers and build friendships with them through our coffee courses. And also how I get to pass on my knowledge to other people and give them a better understanding.

 

What do you do at Two Chimps coffee?

Andy – I’m responsible for the coffee side of things and making sure our coffee is always the best. I also take care of the day to day running of the business, from payroll to spreadsheets; that’s me sorted!

Laura – I take the lead with customer relations. Phone calls, emails and wholesale accounts.

 

What’s one dance move that should never make a comeback?

Andy – My dad’s microwave burger dance.

Laura – The left foot, right foot dance.

 

 

What is your party trick?

Andy – I can walk up and down invisible stairs and go up and down an invisible elevator.

Laura – I can make a chicken out of a napkin.

 

It’s the weekend! What do you want to do?

Andy – BBQ and spend time with friends and family ad riding my bike with friends and the children.

Laura – Go for a walk, have friends over for food with a record player doing its thing in the background and playing Lego with our awesome children.

 

Want to meet all the chimps? Let’s go!

 

Want to learn more about Andy and Laura? What did they do before opening Two Chimps Coffee? How did it begin?

This video reveals all… Enjoy!