A Glasgow family firm, a blind-cupping win and one gap you should know about.
Table of Contents
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which help fund our independent review work at no extra cost to you. Every recommendation is based on hands-on testing through The Editor Lab methodology. No brand pays to appear, and no placement is guaranteed.
Should you order beans from the roaster that won the UK's Best Roaster title in April 2026? For most people, yes. This Thomson's coffee review finds a Glasgow roaster that ranks second of 27 in our UK roaster ranking, sells its 1841 house blend at £9.20 for 250g, and leaves you one gap to weigh.
We bought Thomson's coffee at full retail price under our Editor Lab method and scored it on the same five published criteria as every roaster in our ranking. You get the award checked, the range priced, the service reviewed, and the complaints set beside the praise, with prices checked on 6 October 2026.
Thomson's 1841 house blend 1kg bag with its roast date label
Here is what buyers write, so you can weigh the verdict against real orders.
“After a problem with my subscription - basically the coffee never arrived - I emailed them at the address they provide. No reply.”
David, Thomson's on-site reviews, on Vunga, 23 September 2026:
“Didn't like the flavour and it left a strange aftertaste. The only coffee I've bought from Thomson's I wouldn't buy again...”
Thomson's Coffee Review: The Verdict
Thomson's scores 7.30 and ranks second of 27 in our UK coffee roasters, scored and ranked, 0.20 behind the leader. You get strong marks for range and brew fit, freshness and service, and value. It loses points on one thing: it publishes no contaminant testing.
I am an SCA-certified barista with nearly 15 years in and around speciality coffee, and I treat a title as a good sign, not a guarantee, so you can see every criterion and weight below.
Criterion
Weight
Score
Cup quality and sourcing
25%
8.8
Published contaminant testing
30%
3
Range and brew fit
15%
10
Freshness and service
15%
9
Value
15%
9
Weighted total
100%
7.30
Best for: you want a title-winning roaster at under £10 a bag.
Skip if: published lab testing is your deciding factor, or you need a printed roast-date promise.
Who Are Thomson's Coffee Roasters?
Thomson's Coffee Roasters is a Glasgow coffee roaster founded in 1841, owned by the Jenkins family since 2011, and named UK's Best Roaster at the Glasgow Coffee Festival in April 2026. If you are asking who owns Thomson's, the Jenkins family is the answer, and it is only the third family to own the business. You can read the timeline on Thomson's history page.
David Thomson, a 24-year-old tea and coffee merchant from Edinburgh, opened his first Glasgow shop in 1841. The roasting happens at a Thornliebank roastery on Glasgow's Southside, built in the 1960s, where a Loring Kestrel S35 joined a vintage Whitmee in 2015. You can visit three Thomson's shops, at Giffnock, Gallowgate and Candleriggs, which opened in September 2026.
The 1841 café in the West End is a neighbourhood café that serves Thomson's coffee, so you should not count it as a fourth shop.
The 2026 UK's Best Roaster Title
UK's Best Roaster is a competition in which roasters are judged by fellow roasters in a blind, peer-assessed cupping, so you can trust the cup score. The 2026 cupping took place on 17 April at the Glasgow Coffee Festival, and each finalist roasted an identical coffee and submitted a sourced coffee of its choice, according to the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal.
Head roaster Jonathan Martinez took the grand prize, as you can read in Time Out from 1 May 2026. Thomson's says festival-goers also voted it their Public's Choice.
A blind cup tests the coffee and not the branding, which is the part of the title you can trust. It does not test delivery, service or contaminants, so you still need the sections below.
The Range and Prices
Thomson's has three ranges. Core is everyday seasonal single origins and blends, LAB is small limited lots and experimental processing, and Legacy is the house blends and dark roasts. Every coffee shows an Agtron roast number, so you can see how dark it is.
Start with 1841, which gives you a medium-dark blend of Colombian and Brazilian coffee that Thomson's describes with notes of milk chocolate, praline and caramel. I started in coffee in 2012 as a barista trainer at UCC Coffee, and a blend that suits espresso, cafetière and moka pot coffee is the one I hand a new buyer first.
Coffee
What it is
250g
1kg
1841
Core house blend, Colombia and Brazil, medium-dark
£9.20
£31.50
TEAM
Notes of dark chocolate, orange and almond
£10.10
£34.50
St. Vincent Roast
Legacy dark roast, notes of hazelnut, demerara and smoke
El Salvador, Salaverria family, double soaked anaerobic
£15.00
£54.00
Nine of the 12 single origins listed name a farm, washing station or cooperative plus a process. The friction is lot variation: one verified buyer of Vunga, at £12.80, would not reorder it, so you should try a bag before buying a kilo.
Thomson's roasts daily and aims to send your coffee out within 10 days of roasting, which it says is on purpose. Its FAQ page makes no roast-date promise, so that 10 days is an aim, not a guarantee. The 1kg bag in the photo carries a roast date and best-before date, but nothing commits Thomson's to how old it will be when your order lands.
Orders you place before 8am on a working day usually ship the same day, tracked. Delivery costs £3.50 and is free from £25.
On the subscription page, your favourite coffee is 10% off every delivery, which puts 1841 at £8.28 for 250g. You can skip, pause or cancel any time, and our coffee subscriptions compared shows how that stacks up.
The service risk is real but small. Trustpilot holds only three reviews on its Thomson's profile, so you are reading one account, not a pattern. Thomson's own widget averages 4.8 from 709 reviews, and Joe says his subscription reorders arrive in a day or two.
Contaminant Testing: What Thomson's Does Not Publish
Thomson's publishes no mould (mycotoxin), pesticide or heavy-metal results, so you have nothing to check. Its sustainability page covers the Real Living Wage and reusable delivery buckets, not testing. Its Agtron reading checks roast colour, not contaminants.
That is why it scores 3 on this criterion, the floor of our scale. A 3 here means Thomson's publishes no contaminant results. It says nothing about the coffee itself, and you can read what mycotoxins are in the Food Standards Agency guidance.
I founded Balance Coffee in 2020, so weigh this line accordingly. If published lab results decide it for you, our UK roaster ranking puts Balance Coffee first on that criterion and overall, 0.20 ahead of Thomson's. Balance Coffee is tested monthly by an independent lab for mould, pesticides and heavy metals, and lab results come back all clear.
How Thomson's Compares
Thomson's 1841 costs £3.30 less per 250g than Origin Resolute, and you get a higher score. Rave is cheaper still.
Roaster
Rank of 27
Score
Coffee compared
250g
Thomson's
2
7.30
1841
£9.20
Origin
3
7.08
Resolute
£12.50
Rave
4
6.80
Signature Blend No 1
£7.95
Origin prints the roast date on the bag, which Thomson's does not promise. Assembly ranks fifth at 6.33 but leads on cup quality, with 9.7 against Thomson's 8.8, so you should pick it if the cup alone matters.
Who Should Buy Thomson's
Buy it if you want the 2026 title winner, brew espresso, moka or cafetière, and want a bag under £10. Order 1841 first, then decide whether the rest of the range tempts you.
Look elsewhere if published lab results decide it for you, or you need a roast date promised on the bag. Buy one bag first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Thomson's coffee good?
Yes, for most people. Thomson's won UK's Best Roaster in April 2026 after blind peer cupping, ranks second of 27 UK roasters in our scoring at 7.30, and averages 4.8 from 709 on-site reviews. The one gap is that it publishes no contaminant testing, so you cannot check for mould or pesticides.
Who owns Thomson's Coffee in Glasgow?
The Jenkins family has owned Thomson's since 2011, and it is only the third family to own the business since 1841, says its history page. You can buy online or from its three Glasgow shops, at Giffnock, Gallowgate and Candleriggs.
Which coffee roaster in Glasgow is considered the best?
Thomson's won the UK's Best Roaster title at the Glasgow Coffee Festival in April 2026, judged by blind, peer-assessed cupping. Dear Green was also named as a finalist. Our ranking of 27 UK roasters scores Thomson's second, so you can try it first.
Which coffee roaster is considered the best in the UK?
Thomson's holds the 2026 UK's Best Roaster title, chosen by blind peer cupping at the Glasgow Coffee Festival in April. Our weighted ranking of 27 UK roasters scores it second, 0.20 behind the leader, because it publishes no contaminant testing, and you can compare every roaster there.
What is the best rated coffee in the UK?
No single official answer exists, so you should check the source of any rating. For Thomson's, 1841 shows 4.9 from 40 reviews on its product page, and the whole store averages 4.8 from 709 on-site reviews. If you want a ranked list across brands, use our scored roaster ranking.
What are the best online coffee beans in the UK?
From Thomson's, start with 1841 at £9.20 for 250g, a medium-dark house blend for espresso, cafetière and moka. It comes in six grind options, so you can match it to your kit. For other brands, see our best coffee beans in the UK guide.
Does Thomson's Coffee have a discount code?
Thomson's gives you 10% off a first coffee order when you sign up with your email, and the code shown on 6 October 2026 was WELCOME10. Subscriptions save 10% per delivery instead. You cannot combine the two, because the first-order code is not valid on subscriptions.
How fresh is Thomson's coffee when it arrives?
Thomson's roasts daily and aims to send your coffee out within 10 days of roasting, by design, because coffee brews better after a short rest. Its FAQ makes no roast-date promise, so you should treat the 10 days as an aim, not a guarantee.
A wellness entrepreneur and biohacker, James explores the intersection of hospitality and health - from clean fuel and recovery tools to mindful routines that build balance into daily life.
