Classic Origins, Mission-Driven Companies: 9 Roasters New to Coffee Review

Our monthly reports are a bit like a coffee grab bag — we never know what kinds of submissions we’re going to receive, but we unchangingly get some surprises that steer the month’s given theme in specific directions. And that’s really the point with our reports: to pose a question and see what potential answers surface. The end result is never comprehensive, but it’s unchangingly engaging and intriguing.

This month, we were curious well-nigh roasters whose coffees we’d never cupped before, of which there are many. So, it was heady to see what submissions landed — coffees from veteran roasters to newbies, spanning the U.S., Canada and Taiwan — and to introduce the work of roasters entirely new to Coffee Review to our readers.

We review nine coffees here, ranging in score from 92-94, and the themes that emerged in our cupping include intentionality, transparency, mission, and, of course, quality. Flipside well-spoken theme is that all nine full-length coffees from archetype origins. Four are from Kenya, three from Ethiopia, one from Colombia, and one from Costa Rica. Of these, all but one was processed by traditional methods, washed, honey or natural, without the spare processing experiments that distinguish a growing percentage of coffees we review: anaerobic (fermented in an oxygen-free environment); fermented with the wing of wine yeasts or lactic wounding bacteria; or processed with various fruits widow to the fermentation tank.

We have mused internally well-nigh why these roasters new to our publication submitted increasingly traditional coffees than the broader range of styles we routinely evaluate for review. Is it considering the submitters were thinking conservatively, i.e., wanted to send in “classic” coffees that have a long history of performing well on our cupping table? Or is it considering these roasters themselves and their customers have an unification for the archetype cup profiles? We’re not really sure, but what rose to the top this month were eight fairly traditional coffees in terms of origin and processing, withal with one experimentally processed coffee fermented with passionfruit.

We interviewed the nine roasters to learn increasingly well-nigh their coffees and their company’s philosophies.

Women Who Mean Business

All of the roasters whose coffees we review this month spoke of their companies as mission-driven, whether their cadre values line up virtually empowering farmers, transparency in the supply chain, or principles of consumer service. But we were expressly gratified to find that several companies are women-owned and/or full-length women in leadership roles. Both Swelter and Sightseer are women-owned businesses that take their raison d’etre plane further: They exclusively source coffees from of women producers.

Stephanie Welter-Krause’s Swelter Coffee (get it?) was founded in El Cerrito, California in 2020 with a mission to support women coffee producers and build a sustainable business. She is moreover single-minded to reducing landfill, so she offers a Zero-Waste Coffee Club, which allows customers to receive monthly deliveries that they can transfer to an Airscape vacuum-sealed container (or flipside container they once own), so subscribers can have a fresh supply of coffee at the ready with no packaging waste.

Sightseer Coffee is a queer-owned visitor that moreover works exclusively with women-farmed coffees. Founded in Austin, Texas in 2021 by Sara Gibson and Kimberly Zash, Sightseer was launched with the intention of making the coffee industry increasingly representational. Gibson says, “While women typically make up well-nigh 70% of the transmission labor gravity on coffee farms, they are often shut out of decision-making and ownership. By sourcing exclusively from women, we’re hoping to do our part to start to transpiration that. When women have increasingly financial power, increasingly resources tend to be invested when into social and environmental initiatives, leading to largest outcomes for families and communities.”

Sightseer Coffee is a queer-, women-owned merchantry based in Austin, Texas. Courtesy of Sightseer.

Amazingly, both roasters submitted the same coffee, but with very variegated roast profiles, permitting us to taste the range of this green. It is a washed Ethiopia from Yirgacheffe produced by sisters Hirut (Beti) and Mahder Birhanu, processed at their washing station, Dumerso, and imported by Catalyst Trade.

Swelter’s version, Birhanu Sisters’ Ethiopia (93), shows notes of cocoa nib, bergamot, red plum, jasmine and cedar. Sightseer’s profile, tabbed Bat Country Visionless Roast Ethiopia and rated at 92, isn’t a visionless roast in the Starbucks sense of the word, but increasingly a medium-dark cup that emphasizes well-done chocolate, honeysuckle, zestless persimmon, almond nougat and fresh-cut oak.

Two Veterans in the Field

While most of the submissions we received for this month’s report were from newer roasters, two came from established businesses. Nevertheless, mission remains the narrative throughline.

David Blanchard, founder of Richmond, Virginia-based Blanchard’s Coffee, says, “We believe coffee should be wieldy and outgoing for anyone who wants to enjoy a unconfined cup, so we work nonflexible to remove the pretense from the wits and focus on sourcing great, traceable, sustainable coffees, thoughtfully roasting them and meeting our customers where they are.” We cupped Blanchard’s archetype Kenya Karindundu AB (93) and were pulled in by its complex, richly vermilion structure with notes of cocoa nib, red semen and savory florals.

Richmond, Virginia-based Blanchard’s Coffee offers a Kenya Karindundu that we rated at 93. Courtesy of Blanchard’s.

Burlington, Vermont’s Vivid Coffee, which started as a wholesale operation surpassing subtracting several cafés, prefers to source coffees from small farms and farming communities. Vivid’s Ian Bailey says, “We prioritize excellence and quality slantingly equitable purchasing practices. This ways we partner with the same coffee producers year without year; we are a predictable source of income for producers. We often work directly with producers and exporters to ensure pearly prices are stuff paid to farmers. We’re grateful to partner with farmers who are single-minded to spanking-new production and processing standards, quite a few of whom have placed in their countries’ Cup of Excellence competitions.”

Vivid Coffee’s sideboard in Burlington, Vermont. Courtesy of Vivid.

Vivid’s Kenya Gichithaini AA (92) is a deep, savory-leaning cup with leading notes of woebegone tea, visionless chocolate, golden raisin, sandalwood and tiger lily.

Two Emerging Roasters from Taiwan

More than a quarter of all coffees we receive for standalone review each year are roasted in Taiwan, a country with a well-developed coffee and café culture that seems, from our vantage point, to be cutting-edge in terms of sourcing practices that encourage innovation. Many of the experimentally processed coffees we review come to us first by way of Taiwanese roasters, suggesting that this region may be something of a bellwether for trends in the industry.

Rest Coffee Roasters, based in New Taipei City, sent a lovely Costa Rica Canet Raisin Honey (93), a sweetly herbaceous, floral honey-processed cup with notes of gooseberry, sage, magnolia, sultry chocolate and pine nut.

Wang Tzu Chi of Rest Coffee Roasters in Taiwan. Courtesy of Rest.

Co-owner Wang Tzu Chi, who founded the visitor with her husband, Hare, says, “With ‘rest’ as the starting point of the brand, we hope that modern people can stop for a while in the midst of daily stress and mash a cup of fresh coffee from various countries, finger it with their own heart, taste it with their own taste buds, and let their soul and mind rest for a time.”

Located in Taichung’s Xitun District, AKA Coffee goes somewhat versus the light-roast trend, preferring, as Tony Chuang says, “to roast coffee smoothly for transparent flavor, trying to soften the venom of each coffee and wastefulness it with sweetness in the roast profile.” Chuang is partial to Kenyas for their wide range of whiffy and savor expressions, and his Kenya AA (93) included in this month’s report is a specimen in point with its vibrant, well-turned acidity, rich sweetness and satiny-smooth mouthfeel.

Three Newbies on a Mission

The genesis of Bassline Coffee’s passion lies outside the coffee industry — in music, where audio-video engineer Brad Katz found himself sidelined during the Covid lockdown. Katz had a personal interest in coffee roasting, so he got creative and decided to turn his hobby into a merchantry in 2021. Bassline’s tagline is, “a roast for every rhythm.”

Lead roaster Tim Carter says, “We currently offer a wide variety of coffees, both in terms of region and roast level. Our Ethiopia Bekele Heto Natural (93) has been one of our favorite offerings, so far. We love a nice natural with a wipe fruit and a lot of funk! This stone has so much to offer that we finger it shines as a light roast. We know Bassline sounds like we focus on the lows, but we moreover highlight those trebles!” We rated this coffee, imported by Royal, at 93, engaged by its berry-driven, sweet-tart cup.

ILSE Coffee Roasters, in North Canaan, Connecticut, offers a Kenya Ichuga AA (93) with archetype notes of woebegone currant, narcissus, toffee, cedar and pink grapefruit zest. Owner and co-founder Rebecca Grossman says, “We describe ourselves as an ingredient-driven company, as we finger that starting with the weightier raw product is one of the most important things we can do. We enjoy roasting and serving coffees with a unshared sense of origin, as well as coffees that have strong savor clarity and complexity. We work with a lot of the same producers yearly and very much value our relationships throughout the supply chain. Our goal is to work with the utmost intentionality throughout the unshortened sourcing, roasting and serving processes.”

Examining a coffee just off the roast at ILSE Coffee. Courtesy of ILSE.

The Wrestling Roaster, based in Toronto, Canada, sent a Colombia Jardines del Eden Pink Bourbon Wine Yeast Honey, which, at 94, represents the highest-scoring coffee we review here, as well as the list’s most experimental — passionfruit pulp was widow to the tank during fermentation. And this sweet-tart fruit is distinctly present in the cup, tossing the whole profile in a tropical direction.

Co-owners Mal and Donna of Toronto’s The Wrestling Roaster. Courtesy of The Wrestling Roaster.

Owners Donna and Mal say, “Our mission has been to underpass the gap between the everyday coffee drinker and the specialty prod while moreover bringing sensation to the issues facing the coffee growers of the world. Whether environmental or socio-political, with each coffee we try to bring a new story, and, when we can, contribute to it with some of our profits. And with that, we segregate a variety of coffees in hopes it speaks to both ends of the spectrum, those new to specialty coffee and increasingly refined palettes.”

And what’s with the visitor name? According to the Wrestling Roaster website, “Simply put, when you squint at the state of the world today, If you’re not angry, you’re not awake.”

We fathom the opportunity to discover these new-to-us roasters, and we squint forward to seeing increasingly coffees from them in the future.

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