Our history

While the Costa Coffee story began in 1971, with brothers Sergio and Bruno disrupting the London coffee scene with their Italian-style blend, the Costa Coffee Professional story begins in earnest almost 30 years later; Costa Coffee is present in 50 countries around the world, with 2,700+ coffee shops in the UK & Ireland and 1,300+ globally.

In 1991, Coffee Nation was founded, inspired by the bustle of New York and with a mission to replicate the city’s love for takeout coffee in the UK. Acquired by Costa Coffee in 2011, it continued to innovate under the name Costa Express, scaling to huge market share in the UK and reimagining what convenience coffee could be. Costa Express operates in 20 international markets, with more than 14,200 coffee machines in the UK and more than 1,600 globally.

Twenty years later, with Costa Coffee now enjoying the scale and backing of The Coca-Cola Company after its acquisition in 2018, the brand was expanded globally, and is still challenging assumptions about coffee consumed away from home. It was the first to market in 2022 with AltoX1 Ice, a single free-standing machine that could create hot and iced coffee and beyond coffee drinks. With presence across 22 international markets, Costa Coffee proudly supports more than 30,000 business sites across the UK and globally.

In 2024, Costa Express evolved as its own entity within Costa Coffee under the name Costa Coffee Professional, focused on serving coffee solutions to businesses of any size.

We have more than 50 years of hospitality experience with thousands of stores across multiple markets - we’ve disrupted the away-from-home coffee market with ‘Coffee Nation/Costa Express’ business and we’re now backed by the exceptional scale and distribution power of The Coca-Cola Company. It is in our brand’s DNA to stay ahead, bravely explore new frontiers and above all, make coffee that is better, by design.