Fountain Rock
Location: Dorset
Established: 2018
No. of coffees: 5
Andrew brings a scientist's curiosity and the Dorset coastline to every roast
Fountain Rock is a Dorset-based roastery founded by Andrew Hall, whose background in science and technology led him to study sensory analysis, brewing and roasting with the Speciality Coffee Association before ever selling a single bag. That grounding shows in how they work - from the electric roaster with its integrated profiling software to the relationships they've built with farmers they pay well above fair trade rates, because good coffee starts long before the roast.
Their Coffee Range
Chesil Deep is probably where most people start with Fountain Rock - a darker roast blend of dark chocolate, cherry and almond that settles into something warming and easy. The Burning Cliff Seasonal Blend covers similar ground but with a smoother, velvety character: chocolate and caramel with berry, forest fruit jam and stone fruit woven through. Andrew shifts the components gently with the seasons, so it stays familiar without ever going stale.
The single origins are where things get more interesting. Las Mishas #1 comes from a community of smallholders in northern Peru - rich and syrupy, with plum, strawberry and caramel that reward a slower, more attentive brew. The Frinsa Sarapan from West Java takes things somewhere harder to pin down: dark chocolate and plum undercut by something almost tea-like, a quiet depth that doesn't announce itself but stays with you.
If you want to keep drinking good coffee into the evening, the La Serrania Decaf from Colombia's Pitalito region is well worth knowing about. Caramel, vanilla and a gentle thread of berry sweetness - silky and satisfying in a way that makes the whole decaf conversation feel less like a compromise and more like a reasonable choice at ten o'clock on a Tuesday.
More About Fountain Rock
Fountain Rock began with a moment of pure bewilderment. Andrew was visiting a speciality café in St. Ives when the owner explained he adjusts each espresso shot to account for the local micro-climate. It was, by his own admission, both mystifying and revelatory - and it set him on a path to understand exactly what makes coffee taste so good. He studied with the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe, taking courses in sensory evaluation, brewing and roasting, and built Fountain Rock from there.
The roastery runs on a semi-automated electric roaster paired with profiling software and a suite of sensors - a setup that keeps emissions down and consistency up. Andrew roasts between light and medium to let the beans' natural character come through, and aims to get every coffee roasted within twelve months of harvest and shipped within a week of roasting.
The ethics run just as deep as the science. Fountain Rock pays farmers between 1.5 and 2.6 times the Fairtrade rate, works only with producers who are transparent about payments, and stays in regular contact with the people growing the coffee. Packaging is fully compostable, boxes are made from over 70% recycled material, and the name itself is a nod to a hidden chalk column on the Jurassic Coast - a reminder of what's worth protecting.
