Solo Coffee

This roastery works on Giesen equipment imported from the Netherlands and roasts to order rather than holding stock -- green coffee goes onto the roaster one to two days before a batch ships, so beans reach customers close to peak freshness rather than sitting on a shelf. About 90 percent of what moves through the roastery falls in the specialty category, and the range runs from single origins -- Colombia Supremo, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Brazil Santos -- to a small set of house blends. Sourcing runs directly to producers in Brazil and Vietnam, cutting out import intermediaries and the markups that come with them. The operation processes upward of 20 tons of coffee a month, output large enough to supply both home brewers ordering a bag at a time and wholesale accounts, all roasted fresh against order rather than pre-roasted for a warehouse. Every roaster on staff carries a coffee-roasting certification, a credential the company points to directly rather than leaving quality claims to marketing copy alone.