To most people, coffee is a commodity. It’s just something to wake us up in the morning and for some of us, to keep us going throughout the day. Whether we are just regular Joes and brew Maxwell House at home (for the sake of my sanity, I will pretend instant coffee doesn’t exist) or we are hipsters and prefer to swing by our local Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, the only perk of drinking coffee for us is the perk itself. It’s all about the caffeine and mental stimulation that comes along with it.
But there is a class of people out there that look for something more from the age-old bean. To true coffee enthusiasts, the brew is a culinary elixir laden with body, flavor, and aroma that go unnoticed to the average person. These are the people who pronounce “Espresso” with no “x.” These are the people who know that coffee doesn’t come from a can. These are the true aficionados of culinary coffee. In a world of mass market caffeination, is there anything for these folks beyond their local Starbucks? You have no idea!
Scattered across the US is a plethora of independent micro-roasteries that specialize in producing gourmet coffee–real gourmet coffee, not the kind that’s advertised at the supermarket. To these culinary enthusiasts, coffee is an art. Haven’t heard of anything better than Starbucks? Be prepared for a world of opportunity. Taste buds, welcome to coffee heaven!
Headquartered in Chicago, Intelligentsia Coffee is quite possibly America’s most prestigious independent coffee roaster. Famous for its Black Cat Espresso, Intelligentsia has had the most substantial presence in the US Barista Championship. Recently, Intelligentsia released an application for the iPhone that enables users to see current selections, learn about culinary coffee, and even time themselves for different brewing processes. Intelligentsia has several coffee houses in Chicago, as well as a second roastery in Los Angeles with a few coffee houses there as well.
Counter Culture Coffee, headquartered in North Carolina, is probably the most education-centric coffee roaster in the US. It offers training programs on coffee roasting, brewing, sustainability, and so on. It has training programs available in North Carolina as well as Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Counter Culture is most famous for its No. 46 coffee, a blend of Latin American and Indonesian coffees.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters is highly regarded as the company that started the trend toward culinary coffee in Portland, where it is headquartered. Now, along with a vast array of independent coffee roasters, Portland is home to the American Barista and Coffee School, the most prestigious institution for coffee professionals. Stumptown’s most popular coffee is its Hairbender Blend, a fully-washed espresso roast that includes up to eight coffees at any given time.
Headquartered in Upland, California, Klatch Roasting is one of the most highly-regarded micro-roasters in the west. Also a frequent participant in US Barista competitions, Klatch won the Micro Roaster of the Year award from Roast Magazine in 2009. Its coffees are diverse and frequently featured on popular coffee-tasting site, Coffee Review.
Ozo Coffee is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Its most popular blends are 1) Mocha Java, a blend of Ethiopia Sidamo, Tanzania, and Sumatra, and 2) Ozo Blend, a blend of Sumatra, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Staufs roasts coffees from all over the world. Its most popular blend is Baba Budan, a full-bodied blend named after the Indian monk who is thought to have first smuggled coffee out of Ethiopia. To me, the guy is a hero!
Yes, we all know Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle and, while it would be worth your while to stop by and check out the headquarters, you might also want to grab a latte from Zoka Coffee while you’re in town. Even in a city known for its coffee, Zoka shines as a culinary roaster. Its most famous coffee is Espresso Paladino, a sweet, honeyed espresso roast.
Ritual Coffee Roasters, headquartered in San Francisco, is highly involved in the development of its suppliers. It features a new blend each month, Sweet Tooth, highlighting the specific farm that the blend was derived from.
Headquartered in San Jose, Barefoot Coffee is one of the most sought-after roasters in California. Barefoot Coffee does only direct trade with farmers and its founder travels personally from farm to farm to select the beans.
Also a frequently featured coffee company on Coffee Review, The Roasterie is headquartered in Kansas City. It has its own unique way of roasting called “air-roasting” and its most popular coffees are Bean Barron Blend, Cafe Trio Blend, and 40 Sardines Blend.
Paradise Roasters, headquartered in Minnesota, prides itself on being the roaster with the most 94-point (out of 100) coffees of any other roaster on Coffee Review. Its most highly-rated coffee is Espresso Nuevo and it probably has the most well-regarded Hawaiian coffees in the mainland US.
Terroir Coffee is a highly regarded roaster headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts. Its most popular coffees include Alchemy Espresso and Continental Blend.
All of these coffee roasters make their coffee available to purchase via the web. There is no excuse for you, if you love coffee, to not give them a try. So, buy yourself a French Press and a grinder, place your order on one of these sites, and start drinking coffee like a pro!
See any great roaster that I missed? There are literally hundreds of fantastic, independent coffee roasters in the US alone. What shout-outs do you have?
Featured image courtesy of Puuikibeach licensed via creative commons.
Doug Rice is the Small Business Storyteller, a writer who helps small business people develop content for web pages, blog posts, newsletters, white papers, and more. He is an avid reader, a coffee snob, and a lover of all things business and marketing. On his blog, Doug writes regularly on issues related to small business marketing.
Micro Coffee Roaster Bridgeport, West Virginia
15k Toper
almostheavendessertsandcoffeeshop.com
Currently roasting Cococho, Peru what a great single origin.
Using an iphone 4 app roastmaster as a tool for smart roasting its the best 9.95 I have ever spent.
As a Kansas Citian, i must inform you of some of the other great roasters we have here. Oddly Correct is up and coming and does a great job. Gregory provides coffee to some of the best shops in the city. He's a small guy but packs a punch! Parisi just opened up a new cafe in our Union Station. Benetti's is a small roaster in Raytown, MO. Nearby in Topeka, KS is PT's Coffee Roasting Company. PT's won MacroRoaster of the Year the same year Klatch won Micro Roaster (2009). The list could go on and on!
@KCMOBarista Thanks for the input. I've not heard of those roasters in KC. I'll definitely check them out if I'm ever in the area. And, I agree, PT's is AMAZING!
I recommend you try Supreme Bean Coffee, which also owns & operates the groundwork coffee shops in L.A. and Santa Monica. It's heirloom quality. Definitely should have been considered for your list! It's also free trade and organic.
@Deannacc54 I have heard of Supreme Bean. I'll definitely add them to my "to try" list!
May I add Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz. They do some fantastic blends. Every time we are in San Francisco, we go out of our way if necessary to Farm:Table restaurant to pick up the house blend from Verve. So great.
@TraceySalazar I am vet familiar with Verve. I haven't tried it, but it's on my list. Thanks for bringing it up!
Have had the pleasure to drink four of these. Ozo is my hometown coffee. They do a great job. Wonder if Stumptown will keep their charm with their sell out?
@GregTucker21 thanks for your comment! Ozo is great. I once worked with a guy from Boulder and he loved it! I hadn't heard that Stumptown was selling. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
@douglaserice What about Ritual in SF? Heard good things about their coffee. Don't know if they roast.
@TraceySalazar I've actually not yet beenout west butch will definitely find this Barista place when I do visit Portland. I too worked for a large Seattle-based coffee empire that may or may not have been mentioned in this article. Nice to connect with you, Tracey!
@douglaserice Well, I do live in Seattle (and recovering former employee of a large, "shall be unnamed" coffee giant based in Seattle) so I'm only knowledgable by default. Have you ever heard of/been to a place in Portland, OR called Barista? At any given time, the guys there carry about 2/3 of the roasters on your list. From one coffee lover to another, I applaud your taste!
Ritual does roast! It's #8 above. It is very good as well! Personally I think Stumptown has gotten to be ubiquitous--consistently good, yes, but everywhere! I'm always rooting for the little guys!
Shameless self promotion of my new blog. My first post was about #5 @OzoCoffee and why I go there every morning. http://petegent.blogspot.com/
Wow, I've never heard any of those! I am a particular fan of Hawaii's Bad Ass Coffee. They make the most awesome Kona coffee, and I've also found that their chocolate macadamia nut coffee is quite divine. I'm not sure they fall into this same category, but I just felt like I needed to talk about them. Because they're yummy :)
Also, I must say that Newman's Own brand coffee isn't bad either.
Great post, Doug. I'll keep this as a resource for my coffee habit :)
@janetcallaway @margieclayman I thought you'd appreciate the Hawaiin coffee reference, Janet! :-)
@margieclayman thanks for your input, Margie. Flavored coffe is a hotly debated issue in the specialty coffee realm. I personally an very liberally-minded with my coffee consumption. I'll go from French press to Frappuccino in a heartbeat. I have not had a pure Kona coffee; it's always been in a blend. I would love to try it unadulterated sometime!
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@RachelTaylorChi okay, that's a tough question. I gotta admit that I think Intelligentsia's Black Cat Espresso is the best, but my geographic bias puts Stauf's Baba Budan as my fav!
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@douglaserice @RachelTaylorChi Doug, Mike here from Klatch Roasting. A very impressive list and we are honored to be included as the top micro roaster listed. As you like espresso let me send you a bag of our WBC Blend that was awarded Best Espresso in the world at the Tokyo world championships. Send me your shipping info to mike@klatchroasting.com and I will see it gets sent out when I return from travels in a couple weeks......mike
@Ckroaster @RachelTaylorChi Mike, thanks for joining in the conversation! I applaud you for the awareness you are demonstrating of your company's presence in the blogosphere. I'm very impresses with Klatch and would be honored to receive an espresso that has received such an honor. Again, I'm very impressed by your participation in the conversation and think you provide a great example for others on this list and in your industry (not that I'm fishing for more free coffee or anything :-)).
[...] am a HUGE fan of culinary coffee. Recently, I wrote a post chronicling what I believe to be the 12 best micro-roasters in the US. I received several comments from fellow aficionados, adding their own favorites to the list. Then, [...]