Lonton Coffee Co. is a specialty roastery based at Limekilns Farm in Lonton, near Barnard Castle in County Durham. The farm setting is not incidental; the roastery was established there as a rural business development project part-funded by the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development, which supported new premises, machinery and employment.
The roastery is run by a small team with named roles: Paul as head roaster, Sam as a field-based trade support and training resource who travels to wholesale accounts, and Sarah handling design. All coffee is roasted on a Diedrich IR-12, a 12kg infrared drum roaster that uses conductive, convective and radiant heat with integrated computer control for consistency across batches.
Alongside the roastery, the site accommodates a mobile coffee unit fitted out in a Citroen Dyane for events and additional serving. Accommodation is also available at the farm, making it a multi-use rural site.
