Herbert &Ward

Herbert & Ward has roasted coffee and blended tea from Rochester since 1929, when Herbert and Ward met at a reception in India and began buying stock across Africa, India, Ceylon and South East Asia. The business remains family run, now led by Nigel Miller, a descendant of the founding partners. Working from offices and a roastery at George Summers Close, the team supplies single-origin and blended coffees to cafés, restaurants and hotels across the country, alongside loose-leaf teas, chai and chocolate drinks made to their own recipes. They also sell, lease and service commercial espresso machines and train baristas for wholesale clients. One detail carries through the business: the founders' original buying routes across Africa and Asia still shape which growing regions supply the beans today. Trade here runs wholesale and online rather than through a shopfront.