Award-winning specialty coffee
roasted in Hackney Wick

Last week we had the fantastic news that both Uphill and Sans have been awarded one star each at the Great Taste Awards. It’s a strong testament to Edgaras’ hard work in sourcing the best the coffee-growing regions have to offer each season. 

Great Taste is the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme. They’ve been championing independent food and drink retailers, and the producers, wholesalers and distributors that supply them, since 1995. And with over 500 taste panellists it's a real achievement for the Mission team - one we’re incredibly proud of. 

Now based in our new roastery in Hackney Wick, we have the opportunity to push our coffee programme even further with exciting single origins and special releases. But, if you aren’t familiar with the two coffees that have received the award from Great Taste, you can learn a little more about them here: 

Uphill 

One of our signature coffees, Uphill is, to us, what specialty coffee should be: delicious yet consistent, adventurous yet approachable. As an espresso expect exciting and fruity, but still delicious with milk. It’s incredibly versatile and works well with pretty much every brew method. 

As coffee is a seasonal product, we always look to source beans that fulfil the above. We have recently changed the origin of this coffee and it’s now sourced from a group of farmers near the Santa Barbara Mountain near Yojoa Lake, the only lake in Honduras. It’s right here, in the mountains that the most famous Honduran specialty coffees are cultivated, many of which have been Cup of Excellence winners.

Farmers began growing coffee in the region in the 1940s, though mostly as a secondary crop. But starting in the 70s, coffee became the main economic sector in the area, promoted by the high coffee prices at that time. By 2011 the region was badly affected by the leaf rust disease which destroyed crops on almost all farms. In the following years, rather than changing their crop the producers wanted to continue working with coffee. So to safeguard themselves and their futures, they started to include new leaf rust resistant varieties in their production. During this time, farmers also learnt about the potential of specialty coffee - mainly through the Cup of Excellence competitions. And since then, many producers have started to experiment with improving their processes and export micro-lots. 

Buy Uphill here

Sans

If it didn't say on the label, you wouldn't know this was decaf — sweet yet well balanced and works perfectly with or without milk. Our Brazilian decaf will satisfy your thirst for flavour, without giving you the jitters. 

This version of Sans is made up of the regional blend, Happy Capybara, from the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais, the fourth largest state in Brazil. This region is the most important for Arabica production in Brazil and produces about 75% of the country’s total coffee volume. 

Cerrado offers an ideal climate for Arabica coffee production, with distinct wet and dry seasons, moderate temperatures between 20–24°C, and elevations ranging from 800 to 1,300 MASL. These stable conditions, combined with rich soils and flat terrain means that farmers here often have large-scale, very efficient productions. 

Our import partner works closely with hundreds of farmers throughout Minas Gerais to source and curate a regional decaf blend that offers an interesting and reliable flavour profile. The caffeine is removed from the coffee using the sugarcane decaffeination method which you can read more about here.

Like in Honduras, Brazil is also facing challenges to coffee production - failed harvests have had a huge impact on the cost of coffee on a global level. Though different to Honduras, Brazil faces climate-related challenges such as unpredictable rainfall, prolonged droughts, and rising temperatures. This affects flowering, cherry development, and harvest timing. 

Buy Sans here

These two coffees are great on their own, but also a fantastic combination set if you’re looking to drink delicious coffee, but are a little sensitive to caffeine in certain parts of the day. Click here to explore our full range of coffee.