David Beattie is the founder of Rounton Coffee, whose journey into coffee began through travel, curiosity, and a desire to build a business rooted in quality, fairness, and people.
Getting to Know David
Name and Occupation
David Beattie – Founder of Rounton Coffee
These days, my time is spent working more with people, projects and driving the business forward.
How did you get into coffee?
I’ve always enjoyed coffee but would only ever drink instant — I simply didn’t know any better. I would buy an occasional bag of ground coffee from the supermarket and think that I was being posh. Whilst supermarket coffee was better, it never really ignited anything in me, so there I was stuck… in a kind of coffee limbo.
It was only really when I quit my job to travel that things changed. I got a train from my hometown of Middlesbrough and travelled across Europe, Russia and Asia. It was Sumatra that I will remember as being the place that had the biggest impact on me, and in turn, set me off on my coffee career.
I saw coffee being roasted on a simple tabletop roaster. Watching that drum turn, with the coffee sloshing around, and the aromas that came from it as the beans first cracked, I just couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen anything like it before. Batch after batch, I sat and watched, transfixed. It was at this point that I decided I had a role to play in coffee — I just didn’t know then what that was going to be.
I was encouraged to visit a local coffee farm, where I stayed for a few days. It was there that I saw the sharp end of the coffee trade — the most important part of the supply chain, yet also the most vulnerable.
I wanted to try and change things in the limited capacity that I had, and that’s where the idea of Rounton Coffee began.
What is it that you like about coffee specifically?
Firstly — of course — I love the coffee. I love how different coffees can taste and the complexity of flavour.
What genuinely fascinates me, though, is the production process. I worked in the chemical and industrial gases industry for most of my adult working life, which is a highly controlled, well‑understood process.
Coffee is also a process — but one that covers vast distances, passes through many more hands, impacts far more people, and produces something people truly care about.
Every stage affects how that coffee tastes: altitude, climate, varietal, soil, ripeness at harvest, how it’s dried, sorted, stored, transported, roasted, and finally brewed. That’s only scratching the surface.
Learning and understanding that process, improving what we do, focusing on quality sustainably, and enjoying beautiful coffees along the way — what’s not to love?
What is your favourite coffee origin, and why?
It has to be Africa. Coffees from Africa are arguably the most complex the world has to offer.
If I narrow it down further: Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Kenyan coffees are remarkable for their clarity and acidity. Rwandan washed coffees are beautifully clean, balanced and fruity.
But Ethiopian washed coffees steal the show for me. The depth of flavour and complexity places them in a league of their own.
Working with Rounton Coffee
David founded Rounton Coffee to build long‑term, meaningful relationships across the coffee supply chain.
If you’re a café, workplace, or hospitality business, creating a free wholesale account gives you access to wholesale pricing and signals to our team that you’d like to talk about working together.