CLO Coffee (Cielo Roastery Limited)

CLO Coffee was founded in 2008 by Nick and Linda Castle, who set out to swap career dissatisfaction for a social business built around specialty coffee. Linda is co-founder and head roaster, working on a Probat to produce a range of single-origin coffees from Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Peru, Guatemala and Bolivia.

The roastery once ran its own cafes but now focuses on supplying homes and venues across the UK, with a separate Church Coffee location and a wholesale arm at clotrade.co.uk. CLO has invested in a producer-side project called The Coffee Station Kisinga in the Rwenzori Mountains of West Uganda, building processing infrastructure with a grower named Vic to improve farmer returns.

Packaging choices are deliberate: paper-lined take-out cups that are home compostable and pulpable, aluminium-free and 100% recyclable PP4 coffee bags, and recyclable tea boxes with home-compostable inserts. The range also includes teas and chocolate alongside the coffee.

CLO highlights great taste and fair trade practices in its values, though it does not claim formal Fairtrade, organic or B Corp certification.