Roasteries / Formative Coffee
Formative Coffee
London, UK
Founded in 2019 by Ian Kissick — 2023 UK Barista Champion and 6th-place finisher at the 2024 World Barista Championship — in a curved flatiron-shaped building on pedestrianised Butler Place, between Westminster and Victoria. Runner-up for "World's Best New Café" at the Sprudge Awards soon after opening. Now roasts most of the coffee it serves in-house at the Plot roastery with head roaster Nicholas Pastellopoulos, with occasional guest roasters such as Manhattan Coffee Roasters on batch brew.
11
coffees
UK
base
Location
Formative Coffee - Butler Place
4 Butler Place, London SW1H 0RH, UKMon-Fri: 07:30-17:00 · Closed Sat-Sun
Coffees
11 coffees
A natural from smallholders in West Guji, processed at Gerba Dogo: whole cherries dried slowly on raised beds under shade nets for 18–25 days, turned by hand. Concentrated sweetness and vibrant acidity; syrupy and jammy as espresso.
Goji berry · Blackberry jam · Blueberry
A bold, chocolate-forward pulped natural from Fazenda Conquista in Minas Gerais, in Formative's Benchmark range. Their go-to for milk drinks and traditional espresso: deep chocolate sweetness and rounded nutty flavours, roasted for balance.
Chocolate · Nuts
From a long-term quality programme with about 65 growers on the Meseta de Popayán, sheltered by the Andes with volcanic ash soils, paid quality premiums above market. Sugar-cane decaf that keeps the sweetness: caramelised sugars and gentle florals with a smooth body.
Milk chocolate · Caramel · Macadamia
A competition-grade natural Gesha from Mi Finquita in Chiriquí, Panama, roasted omni for filter or espresso.
Mandarin · Dried mango · Lilac
A precise washed Caturra from Jorge Mira's 150-hectare Finca El Jaragual in Antioquia, grown among large forestry areas; Mira brings a forestry background and a technical approach. Yeast inoculation and thermal shock add definition: clean, sweet and composed across filter and espresso.
Soft fruit · Layered sweetness
A competition-grade washed, yeast-inoculated Gesha from Cafelino in Chiriquí, Panama, roasted omni for filter or espresso.
Orange blossom · Peach · Cherry · Ginger
From Néstor Lasso's Finca El Diviso, whose coffees are regulars on the competition stage. A double-anaerobic washed Caturra: lifted acidity, juicy fruit and layered sweetness with a clean structure; best as filter.
Peach · Juicy fruit
From Joselito Caruajulca Saucedo's La Naciente in Cajamarca. Ripe cherry rests in sacks 2–3 days before pulping, then a 48-hour dry fermentation, washing and slow drying in a covered parabolic dryer. Sweet and comforting with a creamy body and nutty finish.
Caramelised sugar · Stone fruit · Pecan
From Edinson Argote's Quebraditas farm in Huila. Cherries of 80%+ ripeness are floated, oxidised 24 hours, dry-pulped and fermented 48 hours with selected yeasts below 25 °C, then dried 76 hours at about 38 °C. Bright, layered and silky.
Bright fruit · Root beer
From around 1,500 smallholders working with the Gaturiri wet mill in Nyeri. Pulped, fermented overnight and washed with water from the River Kirigu, hand-shunted through tiled channels to separate the densest parchment, then sun-dried on raised tables.
Blackcurrant · Pomegranate · Hibiscus
