Little Waves Coffee Roasters

Little Waves Coffee Roasters describes itself as Latina-led and women-forward, and its beans are the house pour at the Cocoa Cinnamon cafes it's affiliated with across Old North Durham, Old West Durham, and Lakewood. Its Rio Dulce Gesha, part of the roaster's 2026 collection, won a Good Food Award, and the company has been named to a list of the 100 Best Coffee Shops in North America. The catalog is organized less by origin than by flavor profile - Light & Bright, Full-Bodied & Chocolatey, Blends, Decaf, Roaster's Choice - which structures its subscription program around what a drinker likes rather than where a lot was grown. It has also run a three-way collaboration with the coffee publication Standart and fellow roaster Cafe 1959, packaging farm videos and brew specs alongside the beans themselves. Between the cafes, the roastery, and the online shop, Little Waves sells whole bean, brew gear, and merchandise, with the Gesha lot standing as its most decorated single origin to date.