Digbeth roastery founded by a world barista champion to supply Symphony Hall and Town Hall

Concertgoers at Birmingham's Town Hall and Symphony Hall will soon be drinking coffee roasted a short walk away in Digbeth, after B:Music, the charity that runs both venues, signed up independent roastery Ithaka as its new supplier.

The partnership, announced on 9 November, will see Ithaka's Las Cotorras coffee introduced across both venues in the coming weeks. It is part of B:Music's drive to become more sustainable, and a significant early win for one of the city's newest coffee businesses.

A world champion's Digbeth roastery

Ithaka was founded by World Barista Champion Dale Harris and opened in November 2025, so the deal arrives almost exactly on its first birthday. Harris is supported by Alex Scott, who has worked in Birmingham's coffee scene for more than ten years.

The roastery is building partnerships with an initial group of 25 businesses, and B:Music is among the first to come on board. The venues will serve whole beans for café drinks and bulk-brewed coffee for busy intervals.

"B:Music is a fantastic partner for us, and we're really pleased to be working with such an important part of Birmingham's cultural scene," said Harris.

"At Ithaka, we want to make exceptional coffee more accessible while being thoughtful about where it comes from and the people behind it."

From the Mexican highlands to Centenary Square

Las Cotorras is a single-origin coffee grown in the highlands of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, with notes of chocolate, caramel and gentle red fruit that work for espresso, milky drinks and filter coffee alike. The beans come from the Las Cotorras community group, which brings together smallholder farmers across the region.

Ithaka buys through the importer Caravela, whose grower education programme gives farmers training, technical help and practical advice to improve the quality of their coffee, their productivity and their income. The coffee takes its name from the cotorras, a parakeet found in Chiapas, an area that is home to the Triunfo Biosphere Reserve and some of Central America's last cloud forests.

"Choosing suppliers who share our values"

Nicole Evans, director of commercial services at B:Music, said the choice was about more than taste.

"We're always looking at ways we can B:Greener, and choosing suppliers who share our values is an important part of that," she said. "We're really pleased to be partnering with Ithaka, a local roastery based in Digbeth, and to be introducing their coffee to audiences visiting Town Hall and Symphony Hall."

"Knowing that our coffee supports a community of farmers who are being helped to develop sustainable farming practices and improve their livelihoods makes this a particularly exciting partnership."

Why it matters for local business

Town Hall and Symphony Hall welcome large audiences through the year, from orchestral concerts to comedy and family shows, which makes a supply deal with them a meaningful contract for a young independent. It also keeps more of the money spent in the city's cultural venues circulating with Birmingham businesses.

The new coffee will be on sale at both venues in the coming weeks, just in time for the busy festive season of concerts.