RiSE coffee box reviews our Maypole blend!

The founders of RiSE coffee box, Alice and Ben, first met Garage Coffee Roasters in the summer of 2022 when Sam sent us some delicious samples straight out of the roastery. The samples we received were Murumbi Hills (Burundi), Cyato (Rwanda) and Maypole (Mexico & Uganda). We immediately loved the team's ethos with a real focus on what they pay the farmers and the quality of the coffee as well as ensuring the coffee packaging is 100% recyclable and compostable. At the same time, Luke, the founder of Garage Coffee Roasters was a putting together the schedule for The Kent Coffee Festival at the Iconic Dreamland venue in Margate. We thought it would be a great idea to coincide the coffee event with featuring Garage Coffee Roasters inside the RiSE coffee box subscription. 

The Kent Coffee Festival was a great success with many fantastic roasters attending alongside Garage and RiSE coffee box including Climpsons and Sons, Conscious with coffee and Redemption Roasters. Alice took part in the Sunday panel discussion alongside Paul from La Marzocco, Luke from Sage, and Will from BWT. The topic was “What’s next for the home coffee market?” If you want to read more about the event head over and have a read!

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 YouTube here. We do this in house, with founders Alice and Ben being the key taste testers, as well as inviting our coffee club members along to see which coffees make the cut! 

We were incredibly happy when the Maypole landed on our cupping table. This washed coffee is extremely well balanced between Mexican and Ugandan origins which gives it a deep rich chocolatey backbone that allows the Uganda sweet citrus fruits to emerge at the end of each mouthful. Its creamy and silky texture make it a really enjoyable drink, especially as an espresso based drink. We preferred the Maypole with a dash of oat milk, and we certainly sunk a few in Dreamland! 

The coffee itself comes from two different producing origins, one in Mexico and the other in Uganda. For us, we are particularly excited by the Ugandan element of the blend as it is from the same smallholder farmers we met on our trip to Uganda in March 2023. We learnt a great deal about the challenges these farmers face, and witnessed some of the incredible work that Agri Evolve is doing in Uganda. Read more about some of the sustainable coffee initiatives here. 

One thing that we loved about Garage Coffee Roasters was their passion for creating a sustainable and plant friendly product. We know full well the challenges that exist in the coffee industry, however they have the right ethos to ensure they are doing the right thing. The packaging is a fully recyclable product and easy for everyone to dispose of at home. 

We featured Garage and their Maypole in October 2022 and our coffee club loved it! The Flying Barista on Instagram described it as “amazing!”