Monmouth Coffee Company
Every lot on the shelf carries the name of the person who grew it. Suke Quto is Tesfaye Bekele's, in Ethiopia. Finca Buenos Aires is Luz Estella Perez's, in Colombia.
Why go
Because the buying model is stated and then visible on the shelf. Monmouth says it sources from single farms, estates and cooperatives
, travels extensively throughout the year, visiting the producers and cooperatives with whom we currently work
, and then works to establish a relationship with the grower and exporter of that coffee
(Monmouth). You can check that claim in thirty seconds at the counter, because every current lot is labelled with the person who grew it and the roast it was given.
Monmouth roasts in Bermondsey, which Borough Market says rather than the company: the coffees are skilfully roasted in nearby Bermondsey
, and Monmouth was among the first wave of specialist retailers to arrive at Borough Market in the late 1990s
(Borough Market). The shop pours single cone filter and espresso, sells whole bean and ground over the same counter, and will let you taste any of it. Pastries come in from Little Bread Pedlar, Notting Hill Bakery, Babelle and Chocolarder; the milk is Ivy House Farm.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a single cone filter off whichever lot reads best that week, then beans for home.
- Avoid: Monday, when this shop is shut, and arriving without a cup. Paper ones stopped in February 2022.
What locals & experts say
- Borough Market, on its own trader, in its own words: Monmouth
has gone on to become one of the most revered names in British coffee and a pioneer in the recent renaissance of cafe culture.
2 The market is not the company, which is what makes that line worth quoting. - The company on its own standard:
When we taste a coffee that we like, we want to know where it comes from and who grows, picks and processes it.
1 That is a policy, and it is treated as one. - No critic and no chef has assessed it here. Nothing bylined on the current cup surfaced on 1 August 2026, and no chef names this company in the 622 rows of London industry recommendations held here. That gap is why the confidence on this entry is medium.
Good to know
- Sites: three, and this page is 2 Park Street SE1 9AB, the Borough Market shop. The original has traded at 27 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden since 1978, and the roastery is in Bermondsey. Nothing about the other two is claimed here.
- Timing: a morning and daytime shop, closed Monday.
- Booking: none taken.
- Cups: ceramic to stay, your own or one of theirs to take away.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Southwark, inspected 7 November 2017. Components 0, 5 and 5, where higher is worse. Clean, and nine years old, which makes it weak evidence in both directions.3
Verdict
should-visit — The bag tells you who grew it. On the day this was checked the shop was selling Suke Quto from Tesfaye Bekele in Ethiopia, Finca Buenos Aires from Luz Estella Perez in Colombia, and Finca Deimar from Lucia Mamani and Humberto Vilca, each with its roast level and its tasting note. That is the buying policy showing up on the shelf, and the policy is stated plainly: they travel to the farms every year, talk to the growers, and build a relationship with the grower and the exporter directly. The beans are roasted a mile away in Bermondsey, which Borough Market confirms rather than the company. The cafe pours single cone filter, one cup at a time, and espresso. Founded 1978, and none of that age is doing any work here: the reason to come is that the current product is still built the hard way. It stops short of the top rung because no critic has assessed the cup, no chef names it in the industry record, and no competition placing surfaced. Closed Monday, and bring your own cup.