Not every roaster tells you what actually happens between the green bean and the bag. Here’s ours — the equipment, the process, and what we pay attention to, lot to lot.
Our Roasting Philosophy
I always kept coffee on hand for the Soldiers I served with, but I didn’t love coffee myself until I tasted real, fresh-roasted specialty coffee for the first time. Once I did, I started roasting it for my Soldiers — and that’s where my roasting style actually comes from: I roast looking for a coffee’s natural sweetness, aiming for a pleasant, gentle cup rather than something bitter and harsh. I lean toward sweet and gentle over bitter and harsh, and it turns out that works really well with specialty coffee — there’s real sweetness in a good lot worth bringing out, not covering up.
The Roaster
We roast on a Loring S7 Nighthawk, in small batches — 2 to 15 pounds at a time, never a massive commercial run. The Loring’s rated minimum is 3 pounds; for select small runs I hand-roast as light as 2 pounds myself, which takes real attention to get right rather than something the machine does on autopilot.
Profile, Not Guesswork
Every batch runs on a saved, repeatable profile through the Nighthawk’s touchscreen and PID controls, watched and adjusted as it roasts rather than left to run itself. That’s the real mechanism behind the batch-to-batch consistency you taste — not a marketing line, an equipment fact.
New Lot? Sample Roast First
When a new coffee lot comes in, it doesn’t go straight into full production. We run a small sample roast on it first, to confirm it’s roasting the way we expect and holding up to the standard we already know that origin for. Only after that does it move to full batches.
How We Source
We buy real, specialty-grade green coffee in full pallet quantities, timed to when each origin is actually in season — buying a lot at its best rather than running on a fixed schedule. Every origin gets its turn in the lineup and stays until the next harvest brings something new, so what’s roasting genuinely tracks the calendar. It’s also why a rotating seasonal single-origin works so well as a house coffee option: the change isn’t just for variety, it’s following the real harvest season.
Want to See This in Your Cup?
Browse the current lineup in the Shop, or if you’re sourcing coffee for a business, see the Wholesale page for minimums, samples, and the full Wholesale Coffee Spec Sheet. Curious about the people behind the roaster? Read more on About Us.