Category Archives: Customer Stories

Mike Ouano is the sole roaster for Bean Here Coffee Shop and Bean Here Lab & Studios in Sienna and Arcola, two suburbs south of Houston, Texas. The Coffee Lab is where he spends most of his time, roasting on his MCR-10, 10 kilogram roaster to supply both locations with high-quality coffee. Setting the Scene… Read More

Naomi Joe founder Kyle Willingham roasts on an MCR-1, 1 kilogram roaster in a small commercial roasting facility in Tacoma, Washington. Originally his life plan was a piloting career, but after attending flight school in 2017 and finding nothing but minimum-wage contract gigs, he decided to switch to the food and beverage industry. The pivot… Read More

Erik and Sean Kopack are identical twins co-running KOBROS COFFEE, a coffee shop in Norfolk, Virginia. They roast in a warehouse space a few blocks down from the cafe, using their MCR-3, 3 kilogram roaster to support their cafe and keep their restaurant partners in good coffee. Setting the Scene Both the Kopack brothers served… Read More

Charlie is the youngest Sawatsky son. Instead of taking up the baton of his father’s landscaping business, he followed him into specialty coffee. Now, he does the bulk of the roasting for Barking Irons Coffee Roastery. The company is a family affair. Charlie’s dad Keith is the salesman, and mom Teresa is the floater; she… Read More

For Jim Whitmarsh, Mondays and Tuesdays are espresso roasting days. He heads into the Trail Creek Coffee roastery in Kasson, Minnesota, and roasts everything else per order. The commercial space, which is under construction, is hectic now, but will soon be optimized for a much bigger production of coffee. Both Jim and Crystal are looking… Read More

Industrial Coffee Company was founded by Levy Moroshan in Portland, Oregon, and recently relocated to Nampa, Idaho. The team includes Levy’s wife Christina, in charge of coffee cart operations and supply; Liz Mangeac, who assists Levy with local deliveries; and Dave Mangeac, who’s a full-time support in the roastery as well as at popup events.… Read More

Shane Kilpatrick roasts for Hill Road Coffee Roasters on a MCR-3D in a commercial roastery in Reading, Pennsylvania. The roastery is open to the public, offering a coffee bar and a to-go experience curated for the area’s walking distri Setting the Scene After being exposed to craft coffee by his girlfriend in the mid-2010s, Shane… Read More

Earl Thompson, head roaster for Galena Roasters in Galena, Illinois, roasts on an MCR-10 in a converted apartment building. The space is adjacent to his wife Kimberly’s artisan cooking store, The Grateful Gourmet. In the roastery, he cups on a huge table built by a friend from a lightning-struck Sycamore tree, the centerpiece of the… Read More

Carlos Sims Jr and Kaitlyn Sims run Happy Home Coffee Roasters together in Des Moines, Iowa. They work in a detached garage on their home property, using both an MCR-3 and the MCR-500 that they started the company with several years ago. Setting the Scene Carlos Sims Jr came to specialty coffee from the hospitality… Read More

Rich Stone roasts on a manual MCR-2 in a roastery about twenty minutes outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. It’s a small-scale operation modeled like a large-scale operation, with a focus on efficiency and impact. Setting the Scene Rich Stone worked as an EMT in Knoxville, Tennessee until the stress and pressure of being a first responder… Read More

Lindsey Holland and Emma Soechting roast adjacent to CrossFit Nashville, a gym owned by  Emma’s husband, Preston, and his brother Dustin. The growth of both companies has been intertwined since the beginning; it offers a unique angle to the gym, and a low-cost space for the team to roast, and allows them to effectively dodge… Read More

The Cathedral Coffee roastery runs in Saint Helens, Oregon, midway between the two Cathedral Coffee cafes in Portland and Scappoose. In the front, Nate Dillon roasts on the manual MCR-3. In the back, cafe pastries are baked in the commercial kitchen. Setting the Scene Cathedral Coffee owner Austen Tanner started as a sanitation worker in… Read More

Reconstruction Coffee Roasters is a woman-owned and -operated company in Villa Ridge, Missouri. Master roaster Nickie Browne roasts in a commercial roastery outfitted with two Mill City Roasters, where manager Emily Browne handles sales and logistics. The company recently underwent some structural changes, with ownership changing hands and the Reconstruction Coffee Roasters trajectory now heading… Read More

Tyler Ellison is a deputy sheriff in Buena Vista, Colorado. He and his wife Amber also own and run Storyline Coffee Roasters out of a tiny home they call the Shop. They ship their coffee in refillable jars, putting the idea of returning for a second–or third, or fourth–order directly into their customers’ hands. Setting… Read More

Based in Stevensville, Maryland, Open Seas Coffee Roasters is a social-impact operation sending ten percent of its proceeds to provide rural communities with ceramic water purifiers.  Bryce Roszell is the owner and green buyer of Open Seas Coffee Roasters. Andrew Wackett is in charge of roasting and quality control; operations manager Hannah Wackett focuses on… Read More

CJ Porter Born roasts on an MCR-20 in a warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota. As Director of Coffee for The Get Down Coffee Company, he’s in charge of supplying the fast-growing company with coffee, yes, but also the details that customers are now coming to expect on their bags of specialty coffee. While third-wave roasters… Read More

Christian Felipe Guzman Herrera roasts on an MCR-20. The machine lives in Pueblo Querido’s third location, a shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that opened just last year.  Christian is a night owl; waking up at four a.m. is often the hardest part of his day. But now, five years into running his trio of coffee shops,… Read More

Borah Dawson lives in Columbus, Ohio. She and Johnny, her husband of ten years, own a plot of land that includes their house and a secondary building, where the ARK 6 kilogram lives and works. Roasting on her home property suits Borah: there’s no lease payment, and her kids can come in to help whenever… Read More

Justin Hilligoss roasts on a MCR-3 just down the street from the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, in a small cafe/roastery space next door to his wife’s boutique. In January 2023, the second location will open, complete with drive-thru, two thousand sq ft roasting warehouse, and three thousand sq ft cafe floor. Setting The… Read More

Blake and Haylee Rogers roast behind their gym, Relentless Fitness, in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. The building has a somewhat out-of-place chimney structure, which Blake and Haylee aimed to tear down until they installed their roaster there and found they could vent through it: a good metaphor for how roasting has puzzled into their lives. Setting the… Read More