Why We Chose Two Chimps as One of the UK’s Best Independent Roasters

05th May 2026

A guest post from Alice & Ben, RISE Coffee Box

There are a lot of roasters in the UK. Like, a lot...recent counts put it at nearly 600! And when you run a specialty coffee subscription that’s built its entire reputation on curating the very best of them, you get pretty good at spotting the ones that are doing something genuinely special.

For us, at RISE, Two Chimps Coffee is one of those roasters.

Every roaster we feature goes through a proper selection process. We taste the coffee, we dig into the sourcing story, we look at the ethics behind the business, the story, their sustainable initiates, and we ask ourselves honestly: would we be proud to put this in our subscribers’ boxes? With Two Chimps, the answer was a big fat YES. Twice, in fact.

Here’s why.

First, a bit about RISE coffee box

RISE Coffee Box is a B Corp certified specialty coffee subscription, founded in 2020 by us, Alice and Ben. The idea came from a pretty simple frustration: the UK has some of the most amazing independent roasters in the world, and most coffee drinkers never get past the supermarket shelf to discover them. We wanted to fix that.

Every month, we curate a box featuring a different independent UK roaster and deliver it straight to our subscribers’ doors, along with the full story behind every bean. Since we started, we’ve grown into a community of thousands of subscribers and we’re really proud of the community we’ve built around great coffee.

What makes RISE different, I think, is how seriously we take the curation side of things. Alice and I have tasted hundreds (honestly, probably thousands at this point) of coffees in the process of building this business. We both judge coffee at the Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards, which is one of the most rigorous food and drink competitions in the country, and that experience has genuinely sharpened how I think about coffee quality, consistency, and what makes a roaster truly great. Alice brings incredible commercial instinct and a genuine passion for the producers and communities behind the coffee.

When we choose a roaster for RISE, it’s never a quick decision. It involves lots of tasting, proper research, and a real belief that the roaster deserves a bigger audience. Which brings me to Two Chimps.

Who are Two Chimps Coffee?

Based in Rutland (England’s smallest county, and they’re very proud of it), Two Chimps Coffee is an independent, carbon-neutral specialty roastery on a mission to make great coffee more fun, accessible, and sustainable. Since 2016, their small but mighty team of seven has been roasting fresh, ethically sourced beans while genuinely putting people and the planet first.

And it’s not just us saying that. They recently won ‘Small Business of the Year’ and ‘Environmental Champion’ at the Rutland & Stamford Mercury Business Awards, plus ‘Service Excellence’ at the SME Leicestershire & Rutland Awards 2025. When a roastery is winning awards for both the quality of its coffee and the way it treats the world around it, that’s the kind of business RISE was built to champion.

The day I spent at the roastery (and why it was brilliant)

We’ve featured a lot of roasters at RISE. But our relationship with Two Chimps genuinely feels different, and I think it’s because it started with a proper day out rather than just an email chain.

I headed up to Rutland to spend the day with Laura and the Two Chimps team, and honestly it was one of those days that reminds you why you got into this industry. We worked through a full coffee tasting session together, tasting through loads of different coffees and talking about origin, processing, roast profile… the kind of coffee conversation I could have all day. Laura and the team walked me through how they approach roasting in real detail: how they think about heat development, how they try to honour the character of each origin, how every decision is made with both the farmer and the drinker in mind.

I was really impressed.

 

But the most memorable part of the day? Choosing the name for our Christmas coffee collaboration!

After tasting so many coffees and landing on a Burundi coffee that tasted like Christmas in a cup, the whole team voted on name ideas. We wrote them on paper and got down to two final options. In the end, the clear winner was Better Than Socks. Because coffee is better than socks at Christmas time. Obviously!

That moment kind of sums up Two Chimps perfectly for me: totally serious about the craft, completely unpretentious about having fun with it. You can see a bit of the day in this Instagram reel for a feel for what it was like.

The coffees we’ve featured together

Santa Rosa, Guatemala (July)

Our summer feature was a washed Guatemalan from the Santa Rosa region, specifically the Ayarza area where volcanic crater lakes shape the landscape in a way you can almost taste in the cup.

The coffee comes from smallholders like Francisco Nájera, a farmer with 15 years of experience who has spent his career not just growing great coffee but giving back to his community through a coffee tree nursery. His beans are processed at a Rainforest Alliance-certified wet mill, which unlocks the clean, expressive quality that washed Guatemalans are capable of at their best.

Roast: Medium Process: Washed Tasting notes: Milk Chocolate, Vanilla, Apple Altitude: 1,400 – 2,000 masl

This one hit the sweet spot of being immediately approachable (the milk chocolate and vanilla brought in even our most filter-cautious subscribers) while still having enough going on to reward proper attention. The apple brightness on the finish gave it a real lift. Perfect summer coffee. Our subscribers loved it.

Better Than Socks, Burundi (December)

This one is really special, and not just because of the name.

For our December box, we didn’t just feature Two Chimps, we co-created a coffee with them. After the day at the roastery, tasting through options and thinking hard about what a Christmas coffee should actually feel like, we landed on a Burundian from Shikankoni Hill, a region celebrated for its near-perfect coffee-growing climate.

The coffee is produced by a Belgian-Burundian couple who have built their whole operation around fair wages, sustainable farming, and genuinely improving living conditions for the local community. Two Chimps roasted it to bring out every bit of its festive character, and then the whole team voted on what to call it. Better Than Socks won by a mile.

Roast: Medium Process: Washed Tasting notes: Christmas pudding, rich treacle, cherries

Our subscribers absolutely loved this one. Rich, warming, deeply satisfying. The Christmas pudding and treacle notes made it feel genuinely seasonal without being gimmicky, and the cherry brightness stopped it feeling heavy. It was one of our highest-rated coffees of the year, and genuinely one I’m proud we helped bring to life.

Why Two Chimps is one of the UK’s best

It would be easy to feature a great roastery and leave it there. But what makes Two Chimps stand out, what genuinely puts them in the conversation for the best independent roasters in the UK, is how many things they get right at the same time.

The sourcing is transparent and ethical. The roasting is skilful and considered. The team are warm, passionate, and genuinely fun to spend a day with. They’re carbon neutral. They win awards. They co-create rather than just supply. And the coffee, every single time, is delicious.

For a subscription like RISE, that last point is non-negotiable. But everything else is what makes a partnership feel meaningful rather than just transactional. Two Chimps aren’t just a roastery we’ve worked with. They’re the kind of business that makes the UK independent coffee scene something worth celebrating.

Want to discover roasters like Two Chimps every month?

That’s exactly what RISE Coffee Box is for.

Every month we curate a box featuring a different independent UK roaster, carefully selected, beautifully packaged, and delivered straight to your door. Whether you’re a seasoned specialty drinker or just starting to explore beyond the supermarket shelf, RISE is the best UK coffee subscription for discovering the roasters who are doing something truly worth drinking.

Two Chimps is a perfect example of what we look for. And there are plenty more where they came from.

👉 Start your RISE Coffee Box subscription today

RISE Coffee Box is a B Corp certified specialty coffee subscription, championing independent UK roasters since 2020. Every box supports the Friendly Coffee Fund, donating 1% of sales to coffee-growing communities in Uganda.

Chris

Chris

Marketing Creative

Meet the chimp behind this article!
Chris is an experienced digital marketer with 15-years’ professional experience and a degree in Journalism from the University of Lincoln. Chris joined Two Chimps in 2025 after spells working both locally and in Manchester.

What Chris does outside of the treehouse:
Chris is from Oakham and lives just a 5-minute walk from the Roastery. He is married to Zoe and has two children, Millie and Oliver. In his spare time, Chris is captain of Wakerley and Barrowden Cricket Club, a Manchester United season ticket holder and a keen runner.

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