FREE SHIPPING ON UK ORDERS OVER £50
Menu
  • Coffee
  • Tea
  • Kit
  • Merchandise
  • Sustainability         
  • Chocolate

About Us

HERITAGE & INNOVATION

When a young Thomas Atkinson opened his Grasshopper Tea Warehouse back in 1837 it was one of six tea traders in the bustling port of Lancaster. Now, the last remaining one, we are a reminder of Lancaster’s rich mercantile past. Our commitment to quality still remains as strong as ever, abiding by our original slogan “The Grasshopper only eats the Finest of leaves”, a mantra that rings true today.

As a family business, it’s important to us that we take the long view, paying tribute to our heritage “as keepers of the flame” while looking to the future. For us that means building strong, lasting relationships with suppliers, understanding the needs of our customers and workers and doing our part to reduce our impact on the environment.

Established in 1837 as The Grasshopper Tea Warehouse, our beautiful old shop is now the centrepiece of a thriving Independent Coffee sector. Shop regulars have been been frequenting our current site since 1902 for their weekly coffee fix, freshly roasted on site and good chin wag over the counter, a tradition we keep up to this day.

Sustainability

We're constantly looking for ways to improve our social and environmental performance and creating a positive impact for the people and planet our industry affects. By setting goals and tracking our performance we aim to be transparent about our progress. Check out our latest impact report below.

Sourcing

400 Man-hours to produce a pound of beans. When we go to the source, we learn, we educate, we absorb the sensory ecosystem and translate it into the roasting experience back at home. In return for hard work that goes on at origin, we are committed to paying a premium for speciality grade coffee, building lasting relationships with producers and buying from the majority of them year after year.

Roasting

10,000 hours of hard graft to acquire the artisan craft of roasting. It's a passion that gets us up every morning to greet the day on the search for that perfect cup. Our state of the art Loring Roaster produces 80% less emissions compared to conventional roasters and precision profile roasting technology to get repeatable results batch to batch.

Locations

Since taking over in 2004 we have nurtured our original shop dating back to 1902 as well as open four cafe locations for people to enjoy great cup of Atkinsons coffee, in beautiful spaces with friendly customer service.

RELATED PRODUCTS
Lancaster Blend
Full Body / Rich Tannins / Red Liquor
£9.00
Archetype Espresso
Dark Chocolate / Hazelnut / Molasses
£9.00
Blue Sky Tea
Pink Grapefruit / Sunshine
£10.00
Coffee Sack
Hessian / 60-70kg / Coffee Sack
£1.00
Newsletter Get 10% off your first order by signing up to our newsletter.