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As Clarkson’s Farm season 4 hit Prime Video, we once again saw Jeremy Clarkson navigating the various ups and downs of farm life. This time around, we also followed his journey into the pub business and his efforts to supply it with sustainable, locally sourced goods from the UK.
Watching Clarkson try to track down UK-made peppercorns and ketchup highlighted how challenging it is to find certain everyday food items produced domestically. It also raised an interesting question: can coffee be grown successfully in the UK?
There are some clear advantages to growing coffee locally - reduced shipping costs and emissions, less reliance on imports, job creation, and more. But the question is, do these benefits outweigh the drawbacks?
The Conditions Coffee Needs
Coffee requires extremely specific conditions to grow well, which is why it’s typically cultivated in tropical regions like Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Ideal conditions include:
- Temperatures between 18–24°C
- No frost - even a single frost event can destroy a coffee plant
- Around 2,000 mm of well-distributed rainfall annually
- Bright, indirect sunlight for 6–8 hours per day
Why the UK Isn’t Suited
The UK’s cool, temperate climate has average temperatures far below coffee’s needs. Winters bring regular frosts, which are deadly to coffee plants - and there’s insufficient sunlight during the colder months.
The Greenhouse Workaround
These challenges can be partially overcome by the use of controlled environments, such as heated greenhouses with artificial lighting, humidity control, and irrigation systems. However, this introduces very high energy costs and limits the scale of production. Other challenges include the lack of natural pollinators, requiring manual or assisted pollination.
A Working Example: The Eden Project
Coffee cultivation in the UK is already happening in places like The Eden Project, where plants grow inside rainforest biomes. While it proves it can be done, the process is costly and yields are extremely small - making UK-grown coffee inaccessible for the average consumer. However, it may offer a premium or bespoke opportunity for boutique restaurants or retailers.
Comparing Costs: UK vs South America
UK-grown coffee is estimated to cost between £50–£100/kg, due to the high price of heating, energy, infrastructure, and labour (UCL Carbon Cost Analysis).
In contrast:
- Standard South American green coffee costs around £6–£10/kg depending on quality and origin.
- Even with shipping, the total carbon footprint is lower than that of UK-grown coffee, which relies heavily on artificial conditions (RGS carbon analysis).
Shipping by sea freight contributes only about 10–15% of the total carbon footprint of imported coffee, compared to the massive emissions from heated UK greenhouses.
Sources:
Final Thoughts
For coffee to be grown in the UK and be financially and environmentally viable, it would need:
- A price tag targeting luxury consumers
- Production powered by 100% renewable energy
- A business model built around localism, sustainability, and education
Conclusion
Presto’s view is that growing coffee in the UK is possible, but is vastly more expensive than growing coffee in south America, and we are unsure about the true impact to the environment of growing in the UK. We continue to be as sustainable as possible, and be completely carbon neutral.
