1. Discover your coffee

We hand-pick independent roasters from across the UK, from small new roasteries to established names that have been roasting for years. They’re all different, but we look for businesses where you can still see the people behind them and the care they put into their coffee.

That means great roasting, of course, but also an interest in where the coffee comes from, how it’s grown and the people involved along the way. Every roaster has their own approach, range and story, and part of the point of The Fifth is making those differences easier to discover.

Their coffees are brought together and presented consistently, so you don’t have to learn your way around a different website every time you want to try another roaster. Browse by roaster or use flavour, origin, roast and other filters to narrow down the wider marketplace. You’ll find blends, single origins and decafs, as well as half-caf and lower-caffeine options where available, and Nespresso-compatible capsules from selected roasters.

There’s plenty to explore if you know exactly what you’re looking for. If you don’t, that’s fine too.

New to specialty coffee? Start with the Flagships.

A roaster’s Flagship is usually the approachable house coffee or blend they’ve built their reputation around. It’s a good introduction to their style and, conveniently, a very good place to start if several hundred coffees feels like rather more choice than you needed.

We bring one Flagship from each roaster together on a single page. Browse the flavour notes, choose somewhere local, find a roaster from a part of the country that means something to you, or simply pick the bag you like the look of. They’re all excellent introductions to what their roasters can do.

2. Buy once or put it on repeat

Found something you like? You can simply buy it. Order a single 200g or 250g bag, depending on how that roaster packages its coffee, choose several coffees from the same roaster, or build a basket from roasters across The Fifth.

If you’d rather keep the coffee coming, you can turn it into a subscription. And this is where having a whole marketplace behind The Fifth makes a difference. Instead of subscribing to one roaster, you can build your subscription from coffees across the marketplace. And instead of signing up to a discovery subscription where somebody else decides what you’ll receive, you remain in control of what turns up.

Choose the coffees you want, how much you need and how often you’d like them delivered. If you find a combination you love, leave it alone and let your coffee arrive without having to think about it.

Fancy a change? Before your next order is locked in, we’ll let you know it’s coming. You can switch coffees, add something new, change quantities or frequency, skip a delivery, pause or cancel. Keep a favourite on repeat while changing something else, or use the marketplace to try something different whenever the mood takes you.

No need to cancel one subscription and start another somewhere else just because you fancy a different coffee.

3. Fresh from the roaster

You order through The Fifth, but your coffee comes directly from the people who roast it. Once your order is placed, we send each part to the relevant roaster, where it becomes part of their normal roasting and fulfilment schedule, just as an order placed directly with them would.

We don’t buy coffee in bulk and keep it sitting in a Fifth warehouse waiting for somebody to order it. Our roasters roast regularly and manage their production around demand, so the coffee they send is fresh and hasn’t taken an unnecessary detour before reaching you.

The roaster packs your coffee and sends it directly to your door. You still make your purchase through The Fifth, and if there’s ever a problem with your order, you come to us and we’ll sort it out.

One checkout, possibly a few parcels

If you order from more than one roaster, each will send their part of the order separately. Buy from three roasters, for example, and you should expect three parcels rather than one big Fifth box.

You make one purchase through The Fifth. We take care of the rest.

4. How delivery works

Because each roaster sends their coffee directly to you, delivery is calculated by roaster rather than across your whole basket.

Order 400g or more from a roaster and delivery from that roaster is free. It doesn’t need to be 400g of the same coffee either - two different 200g bags from the same roaster qualify, as would two 250g bags.

You can still order a single smaller bag if that’s all you want. If you order less than 400g from a particular roaster, delivery is £3.99 for that part of your order. So if you buy 500g from one roaster and 250g from another, delivery on the first is free and you’ll pay £3.99 for delivery from the second. We’ll make all of this clear in your basket before you pay.

Subscriptions always come with free delivery

Each subscription delivery has a minimum of 400g per roaster, which means delivery is always free. As with a one-off order, you can make that 400g up from different coffees from the same roaster.

Why whole beans?

All our bagged coffee is sold as whole beans. Grinding just before you brew keeps more of the flavour and aroma where it belongs - in your coffee rather than disappearing from an opened bag.

It also means you can grind properly for however you’re brewing rather than relying on one pre-ground setting to do several different jobs. You will need a grinder, but if you’re buying good coffee, it’s probably the single most useful bit of kit you can own.

If you prefer the convenience of capsules, you’ll also find Nespresso-compatible options from selected roasters. It’s coffee from the same independent roasters you’ll find across The Fifth, just in a rather different format.