Dark Arts Coffee

Dark Arts Coffee launched in London in 2014, building its identity around countercultural aesthetics from the start. The roastery is closely associated with Brad Morrison — the subject of a dedicated specialty podcast episode titled "The genius of Brad Morrison" — and has developed a following that reaches well beyond the specialty coffee world into music, art, and alternative subcultures.

From its founding, Dark Arts has deliberately subverted the earnest minimalism common in third-wave coffee branding. Creative Review documented the roastery's evolved visual identity, noting that Dark Arts "has always dabbled with countercultural ideas." That positioning runs through the entire product lineup: coffees carry names like Metal Face, Phantom, Lazy Eye, and Dealer — drawn from a vocabulary closer to hip-hop and underground art than the pastoral farm narratives typical of the genre. The brand has expanded into merchandise and music collaborations, including a joint release with UK indie band Basement ("Wired: Digital Download + Merch"), reinforcing its cross-cultural ambitions.

Dark Arts sources from a range of producing countries — Colombia, Burundi, Indonesia, Peru, and Brazil — and credits individual producers and cooperatives on each release. Current offerings include a washed Colombia from Nestor Lasso (Sweet Soaker), a Burundi from Migoti Coffee (Walking Wires), and an Indonesian from the Nola Wonga Farmers Group (Lazy Eye). Flavor profiles skew fruit-forward and expressive: tasting notes span Jelly Babies and strawberry to green tea and lemongrass. A rotating seasonal espresso — currently a Brazilian from local Sul de Minas producers (Dragon) — anchors the more accessible end of the catalog.