Dear Green
Location: Ayrshire
Established: 2011
No. of coffees: 16
Lisa Lawson has been roasting seriously good specialty coffee in Glasgow since 2011
Dear Green was founded by Lisa Lawson in Glasgow in 2011 - one woman, one roaster, and a clear sense of what specialty coffee could be in Scotland. Fourteen years on, they're a B Corp-certified roastery with a full team, a training space, and sourcing built on direct relationships and transparency. There's also a Q Grader in house, which means every coffee on the list has been properly scrutinised before it gets anywhere near you.
Their Coffee Range
A good place to start is the Goosedubbs Blend - Dear Green's house espresso, built from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, with milk chocolate, pecan, and a soft plum note that makes it a reliable anchor for the range. The Ballroom Blend takes a slightly different direction: Brazil and Rwanda together, with cacao, caramel, and a lift of red fruit that works across brew methods. For something richer and more structured, the City Blend is a 100% organic option - full-bodied, with milk chocolate and caramel sweetness, sourced through direct trade links.
Move into the single origins and the range opens up considerably. The Timor-Leste Rotutu Natural is one of the more vivid in the lineup - red grape, passionfruit, and a treacle-like body that lingers. For something cleaner, the washed version of the same coffee offers rooibos, citrus, and soft apricot. The Mexico Sakubel brings dried fig and lime marmalade from Tseltal farming communities in Chiapas, while the Colombia ASMUCAFE - from a women's cooperative - is more settled: forest fruits, almond, and caramel in a balanced, easy-drinking cup. And if you want the flavour without the caffeine, the Colombia Decaf de Caña from Huila is well worth knowing about.
More About Dear Green
Dear Green takes its name from the Scots Gaelic for Glasgow - Dear Green Place - and from the start, the intention was that the coffee, and everything around it, should come from a good place too. Lisa Lawson founded the roastery in 2011, and what began as a one-woman operation has grown into a B Corp-certified business with a roastery, showroom, and training space in the city. B Corp certification came in 2020, and Dear Green donates 2% of revenue to causes supporting social and climate justice - split between 1% For The Planet membership and a further 1% directed to social justice organisations.
They've also been quietly building the infrastructure of the Scottish specialty coffee scene for over a decade. Dear Green established the Glasgow Coffee Festival in 2014, helped kickstart the UK Roasting Championships, and created the first women in coffee event in Scotland. They're a Living Wage, Living Hours, and Living Pension Foundation employer. On the sourcing side, they hold SALSA accreditation for full traceability, carry out origin trips to maintain direct producer relationships, and have a Q Grader on the team to assess every coffee they buy. The aim throughout has been straightforward: be a business that's good for coffee, good for the people who grow it, and good for Glasgow.
