Meet Mercanta's new chief roaster

Oli's passion for speciality food and drink goes back years. He grew up helping out with his family’s smoked food business and went on to work for the family firm, roasting and smoking fine meats and fish.

It was while he was studying for a BA in History at the University of Aberystwyth that Oli became seriously interested in coffee, inspired by his local specialty coffee shop, Coffee Mecca. He decided to try his hand at home roasting and has not looked back since. Starting with a simple thick frying pan and advancing through to an I-Roast2, Oli has steadily developed his understanding of batch roasting, profiles and roasting single estate coffees.

In 2008, when he was trying to track down a London-based green bean supplier, Oli came across the London School of Coffee and Mercanta. He then signed up for as many of the LSC’s courses as possible, including the various roasting courses taught by Danish master roaster, Morten Münchow. After pestering Mercanta for a place in the team for at least a year, Oliver now runs and coordinates the Mercanta coffee lab, roasting a huge variety of coffees from all over the coffee producing world.