Why it belongs in ORBIS
Craig and Marlo Quillin roast daily at their Kingsbury Grade shop on Tahoe's South Shore, sourcing beans through Vournas Coffee Trading. Their line spans the Cowboy Coffee Blend, Gunbarrel Espresso and a single-origin Guatemala.
Craig and Marlo Quillin roast coffee daily out of their Kingsbury Grade shop on Tahoe's South Shore, working alongside their son Clyde in a business built around the family name. Rather than buying green coffee on the open market, Clyde's sources through Vournas Coffee Trading, a boutique trading firm that deals directly with organic and fair-trade estates and cooperatives and channels part of its business toward nonprofits working to improve farmers' health and economic standing. That relationship shapes a small, rotating lineup: the house Cowboy Coffee Blend and Tahoe Morning Blend sit alongside a single-origin Guatemala and the Gunbarrel Espresso, plus three-origin blends and flavored coffees for customers who want something beyond a straight roast. Beans go out in 12-ounce and 2-pound bags, and the shop has recently added coffee T-bags for anyone who wants the Clyde's cup without brewing gear. Everything is roasted in-house at the Stateline location rather than shipped in pre-roasted, keeping the Quillins in direct control of every batch that leaves the store. For a roastery this size, the choice to route sourcing through a values-driven trading partner rather than a commodity broker is the clearest signal of how deliberately the family runs it.