Quarter Horse Coffee

Overview

Quarter Horse was founded as a cafe in Oxford in 2012 by husband-and-wife Nathan and Ameeta Retzer, then relocated to Ameeta's hometown Birmingham in 2015 to start roasting — making it Birmingham's first independent specialty coffee roastery. Nathan is a Q-Grader who roasted in the US before moving to the UK and worked with Square Mile and Store Street Espresso pre-launch.

Known for

• First independent specialty roaster in Birmingham
• In-cafe roastery with full visibility
• Q-Grader-led sourcing
• Yemenia Mother Population transparency program
• Carbon-conscious operations

Why it matters

Birmingham's foundational specialty roastery. Pioneered the cafe-roastery transparency model in the UK's second city and uses price-transparent campaigns (e.g. UNICEF Yemen Appeal donations) to push the conversation on producer economics.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

Nathan Retzer

color sorting

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roaster machine

Giesen W15A; additional 20kg Giesen for espresso production; 100% electric roaster for single origins (with solar offset)

filter equipment

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cupping frequency

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roastery location

Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham (10 Kenyon Street, since late 2022)

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

10 Kenyon Street, Birmingham B18 6AR

Recognitions

• Featured in Caffeine Magazine for El Salvador lot
• Top 25 cafes in UK (The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph)

Sources

• https://quarterhorsecoffee.com/pages/roastery
• https://sprudge.com/build-outs-of-coffee-quarter-horse-coffee-in-birmingham-uk-191280.html
• https://www.brian-coffee-spot.com/originals/quarter-horse-coffee-roasters-original/
• https://dogandhat.co.uk/pages/quarter-horse
• https://www.bestcoffee.guide/blogs/news/coffee-roaster-introduction