Milk Chocolate, Forest Fruits, Dried Orange
If you like your espresso full-bodied and sweet, with enough going on to keep things interesting, the Firehouse Blend is worth a place in your morning routine. Brazil, Colombia and Tanzania come together in a medium-to-dark roast that leads with milk chocolate and dried orange, drinks smoothly black, and really comes into its own with milk.
Rich, fruit-kissed espresso with depth
The Firehouse Blend is Volcano's darker, bolder espresso blend - named after their Victorian firehouse roastery in Brixton, and built for people who like their coffee with some weight behind it. Brazil, Colombia and Tanzania come together in a medium-to-dark roast that leads with milk chocolate and dried orange, with forest fruits threading through the finish. Rich and sweet rather than sharp or bitter, it has a full body that holds up well under milk without losing its character.
Volcano describe it as their take on a traditional sweet, syrupy espresso, and that's a fair read. Drunk black, it's smooth and satisfying; with milk - a flat white, a latte, whatever you're in the mood for - it really opens up. The Tanzania adds a fruity lift that stops it sitting too heavy, while the Brazilian and Colombian beans bring the chocolate and body that make it feel familiar and grounding. It's a good everyday espresso blend, roasted in small batches in Brixton by a team that has been doing this carefully for a while.
About the Roaster
Volcano Coffee Works began with Kurt Stewart, a New Zealand-born chef, wheeling a vintage Piaggio Ape cart along a West Dulwich pavement and serving espresso to whoever fancied one. That spirit - unpretentious, curious, quietly determined - has carried through to a London roastery, two south London cafés, and a team built around the idea that good coffee should do good in the world as well as taste good in the cup.
