Guest Blog - Crosby Coffee X Rise Coffee Box

For the first time we're excited to feature a guest blog from the owners of RiSE Coffee Box..

We are Alice and Ben, the founders ofRiSE coffee box and we connected with Jack Foster, the founder of Crosby Coffee Roasters, over email back in 2022, where Jack had come across RiSE coffee box on Instagram and wanted to be featured! Jack sent us a range of Crosby coffees to try including the Trio Blend (which ended up getting featured in our coffee box) as well as a single origin Mexican coffee called Tejao and a single origin Colombian called Finca Villarazo. These two scored an 89, so both exceptional coffees. 

We launched RiSE coffee box because we believed that everyone should put down their Starbucks caramel lattes, throw away that instant coffee, and start drinking specialty coffee from a variety of independent roasters from all over the UK. Variety is the spice of life and with so many different origins, farming methods, and processing methods that affect the flavour profile, why confine yourself to the same coffee every time?

The way that we choose our coffee selections for our multi roaster subscription is by blind cupping them alongside a dozen other roasters and selecting only those that are the highest quality. You can watch the process on our YouTubehere. We do this alongside our in house head roaster, as well as inviting our coffee club members along to see which coffees make the cut. 

When we cupped the Trio Blend we absolutely loved it! The coffee scored incredibly high in our cupping against other roasters and came out in the top 5 of 18 different UK based coffee roasters! We love the three origins Crosby has used here. Made up of Natural Brazilian, Washed Ugandan and Washed Colombian coffees, this blend really pushes against the traditional flavours usually associated with a blend coffee but also the more exciting natural flavours of the Arabica plant.

Firstly, the Brazil element gives the coffee a good strong chocolatey baseline, but not bitter or overpowering. It allows the fruitier notes of peaches and berries to shine through.

The second coffee in the blend is Ugandan coffee, which is known for its fruity flavours and this adds fruit notes of peach, and some complexity to this blend. RiSE recently travelled to Uganda to meet with coffee farmers and producers in the Rwenzori region. We learnt a great deal about farming and sustainability challenges, which you can read more abouthere. Finally, the washed Colombian element adds even more brightness through citrus but also some deeper notes of berries. 

One thing we liked and intrigued us about this blend, is the mix of naturally processed and washed processed coffee. We are seeing more and more blends of processing type, and in this case it helps to make the coffee super versatile! We featured the Trio Blend coffee from Crosby in the September 2022 box and our coffee club members really enjoyed how they could enjoy the coffee in so many different ways, trying out multiple brew techniques whilst  at home.

We enjoyed this coffee black and as a filter, but also goes very well with milk or oat milk. As a filter you can really feel the acidity in your mouth. As a coffee enjoyed with milk, we appreciated the sweeter notes and the more traditional Brazilian chocolate flavour. 

One thing we loved about Crosby Coffee Roasters was the family feel to the coffee roastery. They really care about relationships and this shines through in their two cafes as well as how they source their coffee. Putting the farmers' living wages ahead of profit is super important to them, and important to us! Which made for a great all round partnership.