Joe Syme and his mother Patricia opened in 2012 after Joe visited Stumptown in Portland. Following Patricia's death, Joe reopened with coffee as the sole focus, and Jon Cowell and Duma Mathema joined as roasters in 2014. An IMF RM20 hot-air roaster now runs at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, favouring Ethiopian washed coffees and beans from Sumatra's Aceh region; Kibingo in Rwanda has supplied for six years, Jairo Arcila in Colombia for five.
The shop is a single narrow room in a corner-terrace unit on Fortis Green, with a long dark-wood counter running almost its full depth. A green wall stands behind the brew station towards the back.