The first step in improving your coffee at home is to start with fresh beans from a quality focused roaster. If you can find one locally, even better. I recently realized that I don’t have a consolidated list of recommended roasters on FRSHGRND, so I’ve started making a list here. I plan to update & improve it over time as we crowd-source recommendations from the comments and Twitter.
I’ll try to stick to roasters that I can personally vouch for in terms of quality, but will include (or remove) some based on trusted third-party recommendations and your own comments and suggestions. My goal is not an exhaustive list of every single specialty coffee roaster, but rather those that have established a fairly strong reputation for quality, sourcing, few if any darker roasts, and consistency.
The order doesn’t reflect any kind of ranking, though I welcome your own opinions in the comments! An asterisk denotes a roaster I can vouch for from personal experience. Two asterisks is one of my favorites. Given the breadth of US roasters, it might be helpful eventually to break the list up into national and local roasters. If you have suggestions, or requests for additional information that might be useful (we can turn this into a spreadsheet or something), sound off in the comments!
If you’re a roaster, feel free to get in touch. As you can imagine, this post generates a ton of correspondence and I can’t reply individually due to time constraints. So, in advance, I thank you for getting in touch and will follow up on your recommendation :)
USA
- Intelligentsia **
- Counter Culture **
- Stumptown **
- Ritual *
- Verve *
- Heart *
- Coava **
- Kuma **
- Terroir *
- Irving Farm *
- Wrecking Ball
- Sightglass *
- Gimme Coffee *
- Grumpy
- Tonx Coffee (Subscription Only) *
- Handsome Coffee Roasters *
- Barefoot *
- Klatch *
- Paradise Roasters *
- Toby’s Estate *
- Joe Coffee NY *
- PT’s Coffee *
- Magpie *
- Portola Coffee Lab
- Gaslight
- Madcap
- The Hub
- Four Barrel
- Ceremony
- Populace
- De la Paz
- Metropolis
- Dogwood
- Case
- Entimos
- Quills
- Halfwit
- Passionhouse
- Parlor Coffee
Canada
Sweden
- Koppi **
- Johan & Nystrom *
- Lilla Kafferosteriet *
- Love Coffee *
- Stockholm Roast *
- Haugaard *
- Drop Coffee *
- Solde Kafferosteri *
- Da Matteo
- Åre kafferosteri
- Per Nordby
Denmark
- Coffee Collective *
- Kent Coffee *
Norway
- Tim Wendelboe *
- Solberg & Hansen
- Kaffa
- Supreme Roastworks
United Kingdom
Greece
Korea
- Coffee Libre *
- Coffee Graffiti (Lee Jong Hoon’s soon-to-open cafe/roastery) *
- Caffe Themselves
- 5 Extracts
- Coffee LEC
- Club Espresso
- Paul Bassett
- Apgujeong Coffee House (압구정 커피 집)
- MOMOS
- Coffea
- Alegria
- Tailor Coffee
Australia
- ST. ALi
- Mecca Espresso
- Market Lane
- Single Origin
- Reuben Hills
- 7 seeds
- Small Batch
- Proud Mary’s
- 5 Senses
- Coffee Alchemy
- Toby’s Estate
31 comments
Bethany H says:
Mar 24, 2013
Also in USA (Portland, Oregon) is Oblique Coffee Roasters. Their beans are amazing, and totally underrated.
http://obliquecoffeeroasters.com/
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
Thanks!
reggie elliott says:
Mar 24, 2013
Ceremony: Annapolis, MD
Justaphil says:
Mar 24, 2013
Ceremony’s game is on point. Trust, people.
JP says:
Mar 27, 2013
+1 I think their barrel conditioning series sounds really exciting, although I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet. This weekend, though!
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
I’ll have to give them another shot; tried a bag with poor results. Probably my fault :)
Jérémie P. says:
Mar 25, 2013
In France (Paris), you can find Coutume Café (https://www.facebook.com/Coutume). They roast their coffees and sell it. And it’s one of the few places in Paris when you can enjoy a real coffee (not the usual bitter soup you can find in most café in the city)
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
Thanks! Forgot to add France to the list :)
Luke Merrill says:
Mar 25, 2013
A couple more roasters in London, UK:
Climpson and Sons (they have subscriptions too) – http://webcoffeeshop.co.uk/
Caravan – http://www.caravanonexmouth.co.uk/
Nude Espresso – http://www.nudeespresso.com/
I just moved to Sweden and have already enjoyed the fine coffee and fine folks at Koppi (thanks to your recommendation). Looking forward to sampling more on your list. Thanks!
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
Cheers! Hope you’ll share you thoughts in the comments when you visit or try places. Always nice to know what others are experiencing
jesper says:
Mar 25, 2013
In Australia there is 5 Senses, Ristretto, Proud Mary, Seven Seeds, Auction Rooms, Axil, AIR, Campos and many more
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
Thanks Jesper!
JP says:
Mar 27, 2013
This could develop into a really helpful guide. One feature that could be great is to list which roasters offer free shipping/free shipping at certain purchase levels. I know Verve does, for instance.
Also: Tandem Roasters. Their current Sumatran offering is fantastic.
Aaron Frey says:
Mar 27, 2013
That’s a good idea, I’ll try to add that eventually.
Foodietopo says:
Mar 31, 2013
Hi Aaron,
I made a list of roasters for my part of Japan which is Okayama.
http://foodietopography.net/tag/coffee-roaster/
It’s not Tokyo centric, but I found a string of really nice roasters not too far from home. There are a couple places outside of Okayama.
DB says:
Apr 21, 2013
This is not helping my addiction. I have only tried a few names on this list. This junk is about ta get spensive!
Henry says:
May 15, 2013
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for this post, it’s super useful!
Is the absence of central, southern (Save Greece) or eastern European countries due to lack of quality or are you just more familiar with northern and western European coffee roasters?
Keenan Walker says:
Jun 16, 2013
What about slate coffee roasters (slatecoffee.com)? USBC NW Brewers champs and National Brewers Cup finalists. One of the best roasters in the NW.
cass says:
Jul 16, 2013
Heya thanks for the extensive list. As a barista in Australia, I’m pretty content with your list; i WOULD however add Campos Coffee, who have roasteries in Sydney (NSW), Brisbane (QLD) and Melbourne (VIC) and supply a whole lot of cafes throughout the country. They’re a big player, with very impressive ethics and most importantly, top quality beans.
Craig says:
Aug 14, 2013
New cafe in Sydney that is absolutely killing it at the moment is The Grounds of Alexandria. Run by world latte art champ Jack Hanna. In house roasted single origins and blends roasted by Jack’s company Jack & The Bean.
Just won a bunch of awards this year. Looks to be a big force in the scene over the coming years.
Mitchell Murry says:
Jan 14, 2014
Topeca Coffee, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Finalist for 2014 Good Food Awards
http://www.topecacoffee.com
Jared says:
Mar 12, 2014
Charming Beard Coffee Roasters
small batch — single origin
Salt Lake City, Utah
tom herd says:
Apr 16, 2014
hype coffee – http://www.hypecoffee.com deserve a mention for exceptional coffee beans!
Jaime Garcia says:
Jan 16, 2015
I am a representative company of the farmers Colombian Coffee ( Arabica Coffee) and I am knocking the doors to the Coffee Roasters from the Nordics countries from Europe.I looking for from Finland, Denmark ,Sweden.Any recommendation?
wayne says:
Feb 9, 2015
Humblebee Coffee Roasters
Perth, Australia
http://www.humblebee.coffee
Jonathan Guerrero says:
Feb 12, 2015
We are Tarrazu Coffee farmers and producers, please visit our website at wwww.tarrazu-coffee.com and like us on Facebook page. We offer direct trade, trazability and the best coffee in Central America.
Where does coffee come from? A Colombian Case Study | FRSHGRND – Coffee Reviews, Travel, Photography says:
Mar 22, 2015
[…] becomes. A country is usually a good start. Sometimes you get a region. Maybe a farm. Motivated, quality driven coffee roasters will give you more specificity and transparency – sometimes identifying whether the coffee […]
josh says:
Apr 29, 2015
Caffe Dolce Alchemia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
http://www.dacoffee4.me
Coffee Lover’s Gift Guide 2015 | FRSHGRND – Coffee Reviews, Travel, Photography says:
Dec 12, 2015
[…] It’s that time of year again, if you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas for yourself, or the coffee lovers in your life, I’ve put together a few picks below. And of course, you can always go for a bag of fresh coffee from your favorite local coffee roaster! […]
karim and örn says:
Sep 15, 2016
hello there my name is karim and i m working with mr örn,we looking business with you We are working to raise awareness to the lack of education in uganda and poor job opportunities. Our goal is to provide education and create more jobs. We want to make a difference we are working with farmers we buying coffee straight from farmers Arabica and Robusta also we are supplying frozen fruits and fresh fruits and other kind of food and need on the daily basis we provide a free samples and our quality matters regards Karim, http://farmersfriends.is
David says:
Jul 16, 2017
Stow Coffee Roasters in Slovenia http://www.stow.si