Our History
CELEBRATING 60 YEARS
ROASTING COFFEE
Originally based in a Victorian warehouse just off the Woolwich Road, the business prospered and in 1977 moved to a new larger factory near the Thames Barrier, where it continues to be based today. When Peter retired in 1983, he sold Langdons to a group of shareholders led by Konrad Legg, whose family business (Tudeley Estates) grows coffee near Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
In the late 1990’s the company changed its name to Coburg Coffee, which was one of several businesses it had acquired as it developed and grew. Among these was Giovanni Rizzi, together with its main customer Caffe Nero, and thus Coburg became the coffee supplier to Caffe Nero, for over ten years until Caffe Nero purchased its own roasting facility in 2009.
By this time, Coburg had changed from being mainly a supplier of its own coffee and tea brands (Langdons and Rizzi) to hotel and restaurants, and had broadened its activities as a roaster/packer of mainly private label products for coffee wholesalers, the vending sector and a wide range of catering, foodservice, and retail customers.
OUR HISTORY
Where it all started
Coburg Coffee Company traces its history back to 1963, when Langdons Coffee & Tea Ltd was founded by Peter Langdon in Woolwich. Peter had been a pilot in the RAF at the end of the Second World War, flying Mustang fighter aircraft.
After demobilisation, he began working as a salesman for a London firm of coffee and tea merchants; but soon developed such a liking for the products as well as a flair for selling, that he decided to set up his own tea blending and coffee roasting business.
In 2015 Coburg gained BRC Food Safety accreditation and in 2019 invested in a number of major improvements to its roasting and packing resources, including the installation of state of the art Lilla Opus 6 coffee roasting equipment.
Today, with nearly 60 years of coffee roasting experience behind us, and supplying over 300 customers throughout the UK, Coburg Coffee Company continues to develop innovative new products and new types of packaging to meet their constantly changing requirements.
JEREMY MAYNARD
Knowledge of coffee runs right through our company at all levels.
OUR VALUES
Coffee is in our bloodstream
We are one of the longest established coffee roasters in the UK and value the fact that with 60 years of experience behind us, we have by now acquired a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn’t, when our customers seek our advice about products and packaging!
Although one of the oldest roasters, we are not the largest; and have always prided ourselves on being big enough (in resources and capacity) to roast large tonnages of coffee for major customers, backed up by our BRC-certified Quality System, while at the same time being small enough to be very flexible, and to give every customer, irrespective of size, close attention and intelligent, prompt service.
We value every member of our team, some of whom have been with us since the early 1980s, for their knowledge, expertise and commitment to the company.
We pursue active policies which are designed to minimise our impact on the environment, encourage the use of certified coffees such as Rainforest Alliance, and promote the use of recyclable packaging.
