The Women of Deptford: A Weekend with Lomond Coffee

There’s a map printed inside the Lomond box—Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays, the Isle of Dogs and the bend of the Thames—and it tells you plenty before you’ve even opened a bag. Lomond belongs to South-East London in the way a good pub does. It feels properly rooted there.

The roastery was started by sisters Linzi and Hayley after Linzi returned from Melbourne and couldn’t find a decent flat white near home. She learned to roast, and the pair spent nearly a year developing their first blend before setting up beneath the railway arches at Deptford Market Yard.

Lomond is an all-female roastery, and that goes beyond its About page. The Colombian beans in its house blend come from Madre Tierra, an association in Cesar run by women who support one another’s farms and families. There is a pleasing connection between the women producing the coffee and those roasting and serving it in Deptford.

Market Yard: the dependable bag

I spent the weekend trying three of Lomond’s coffees, starting with Market Yard—the blend on which it has built its reputation over the past twelve years.

Combining coffees from Colombia, Brazil and Kenya, it works equally well as an espresso or with milk. Using Lomond’s suggested recipe—18g in, 36g out in around 25 seconds—it produces a thick hazel-gold crema. Cocoa and toasted hazelnut arrive first, followed by caramel sweetness and a clean blackcurrant finish. There is no burnt bitterness or ashy edge.

Milk brings out more chocolate and praline-like sweetness, but the coffee retains enough brightness to remain balanced. It works particularly well in a flat white. If you only want one dependable bag on the counter, this would be my choice. It was listed at £10 for 250g when checked on 17 August 2026.

Two single origins, two different directions

The other two coffees go in very different directions. Huehue is a fully washed Guatemalan with milk chocolate, maple and a gentle orange lift. It is soft, forgiving and particularly enjoyable through a V60—the coffee to give someone who claims they don’t like fruity speciality coffee.

Nensebo is a brighter Ethiopian coffee grown at approximately 1,900–2,200 metres. Raspberry and blackberry appear first, followed by a lime-like acidity that runs through the finish. It is delicate, floral and far too interesting to bury beneath lots of milk. Keep this one for filter.

If I were buying all three again, Market Yard would handle the mornings, Huehue would come out in the afternoon and Nensebo would be saved for a slower Saturday.

Lomond has a strong local story, but that only gets a roastery so far. The coffee still has to perform in the cup. After a weekend with these three, I’d happily make room for them on the counter.