Today I’ll be reviewing the rapidly expanding Black Sheep Coffee brand, which I first experienced a number of years ago in London. Since then it has seen a remarkable increase in stores, currently operating 106 UK locations, with 2026 already set to bring new openings in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Exeter, alongside dozens of additional locations nationwide. And if that wasn’t enough, their first UK drive-thrus are also due to open in 2026, safe to say, they are going places!
Before we get straight into the reward scheme, let’s take a second to understand why it got its name. The founders, Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth, built the brand around a simple but bold idea: to champion the Robusta coffee bean at a time when the entire industry was fixated on Arabica. As Gabriel himself put it, nobody really knew why they were drinking Arabica over Robusta, they’d just been told to. The name Black Sheep comes directly from the brand’s use of these less-popular beans, and their determination to do things differently. They are quite literally the black sheep of the coffee industry, and they seem rather proud of it!
So, onto the reward scheme. Black Sheep operates a points-based loyalty programme through their app, with you earning 1 point for every £1 spent. You can then exchange these points in the in-app points store for rewards. The exact options available do change and are somewhat personalised to you, but as a general guide a free drink will set you back around 3,000 points — meaning you can expect a freebie after roughly 5 or 6 visits, depending on what you normally spend. Not bad at all for a daily coffee habit!
As a member of the scheme you also get access to some additional perks such as birthday treats and in-app promotions, however I haven’t personally had any of these yet. I do wonder if they could be dependent on how often you visit — something to keep an eye on!
As with all of these schemes, it’s well worth joining if you find yourself popping in now and again.
And it does offer something a little different too, because Black Sheep Coffee was the first major chain to serve 100% specialty-grade Robusta coffee, rather than the standard Arabica. This means you get up to double the caffeine, with notes of hazelnut and chocolate — never bad for a morning when you need that extra boost!
Fancy giving it a shot, find your nearest location here.
