Brothers Coffee Blog

This month we’re excited to be working with Dragonfly Coffee Roasters from Boulder, CO. They love making coffee for coffee enthusiasts, but also want to keep their coffee approachable for all coffee-lovers. What is important is that their customers enjoy Dragonfly coffee, however they prefer to make it. So while in their tasting room they teach people how to profile single-origin coffee without anything in it, they also make plenty of coffees that work well with added milk and sugar, if that is what their customers want.

Methodical Coffee is a relatively new roaster from Greenville, South Carolina. But don’t be fooled, Will Shurtz, Methodical’s Head of Coffee, has been around coffee his entire life. When a few of his friends decided they wanted to open a roaster, they went to him first for his coffee knowledge. He decided to join the business and the rest is history.

Ritual Coffee Roasters was founded by Eileen Rinaldi in San Fransisco in 2005, which is quite early for a 3rd wave coffee roaster such as themselves. Since opening their first shop, they have developed a culture that made them a no-brainer for us to select as this month’s roaster. Their values are: be nice, have fun, be inclusive, have integrity, and challenge the status quo. These 5 values are reflected in all aspects of their company from source to their coffee shops.

Many roasters have programs where they donate money to a non-profit or other organization for every bag sold. Avatar, a roasters from Montclair, California, is unique in that they do this for every coffee they sell, ever. For every bag of Avatar coffee sold, including all they ones you are receiving this month, Avatar donates $1 to Charity on Wheels. Charity on Wheels is a non-profit dedicated to helping people in Southern California that are struggling with poverty and homelessness. They have 3 weekly events in cities in Los Angeles and Orange County where they provide food, haircuts, and more while they build relationships and try to connect people with resources they need to improve their quality of life.

Many roasters are surprised (our favorite roasters are pleasantly surprised) when we ask how they invest locally – their community and their workers. Red Rooster, from Floyd, VA, places the importance of impact on their employees as high as their impact on farmers and the environment. It’s no surprise they are the only roaster in the world with an on-site day care facility for their employees! One of their missions as a company is to provide “a livelihood and a fulfilling working life for our employees.” In addition to their employees, they also invest in local charities and contribute to fundraisers with the goal of being a social and economic anchor in their small, rural community of around 500 people.

This month we have the pleasure of introducing you to Bird Rock Coffee Roasters from sunny San Diego, CA. While they are located in San Diego, their roastery is located in a small community nicknamed Bird Rock due to a rock offshore that resembles a bird. We first heard about Bird Rock when they initiated a recent anti-racism campaign. During this time, they conducted training seminars for their team leaders, management team, and staff with the goal of educating their employees about diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Nossa Familia, which is Portugese for “our family” from Portland, OR is our latest roaster selection. Nossa Familia started as a way for Augusto Carneiro to bring his family’s coffee to the US from Brazil. While he still imports coffee from his family’s farm, Nossa Familia has begun building relationships with and importing coffee from farmers all over the world. Similar to why we named this subscription “Brothers Coffee,” Nossa Familia considers everyone that is a part of their business, from their employees and customers to their farmers and importers, as their extended family.

Most people outside of Maine haven’t heard of the small town of Deer Island, ME. In the 2010 census, the town only have 2,000 people living there. Nevertheless it has become a popular tourist location. Among the many hidden gems you can find there lies 44 North Coffee, a women-owned coffee roaster. Since 2010, the small roaster has provided locals and tourists alike delicious coffee from their roastery space located approximately at the 44 degree north parallel.

We’ve worked with roasters and owners that have had huge impacts on the coffee industry – through roasting practices, sourcing practices, and more. But I don’t think we’ve ever worked with a roaster with a more storied coffee history that Kean Coffee, which is owned by Martin Diedrich. To our coffee fans that recognize that family name the answer is yes, that Diedrich.

This month Brothers Coffee found a roaster that didn’t start as a roaster, but rather an importer. After years of building relationships with farmers all over the coffee-belt, Bodhi Leaf decided to start roasting coffee and open cafes themselves. Since then, they’ve added 9 cafes in the Southern California area and continue to grow.