Coffee Stop V: Victrola Coffee Roasters
Since 2000, Victrola Coffee Roasters has aimed to exude the liveliness and zest of the Jazz era. Named after the famous 1920s phonograph, Victrola provides a vintage flair to the coffee scene. Since 2003, this cafe has been roasting its own beans to provide the best quality coffee available.
Victrola currently has four locations: two in Capitol Hill, one in Beacon Hill, and another in Downtown Seattle. Even though Victrola has been around for over two decades, it is still open to possibility and community when it comes to coffee. Never ceasing to look forward in the coffee movement, Victrola stands as an exciting and inviting cafe to get your daily dose of caffeine.
Atmosfera
I decided to visit Victrolas Capitol Hill cafe and roastery on Pike Street. With the sun shining onto the blue and gold exterior, the coffee shop radiates charm before even entering. The inside is small yet emits a sense of openness and air. High ceilings and wood furniture create an inviting yet spacious ambiance.
I chose a barstool seat at the expansive windows facing Pike Street. I found the atmosphere to be pleasurable. The space was sizable enough to hold an intimate conversation away from others while still holding onto a semblance of connectedness with the rest of the coffee shop.
Atmosphere Rating: 4.5/5
Caffé
Coffee Rating: 4/5
Servizio
Service Rating: 5/5
Finale
South Dakota Pure Bean Roasters
In Rapid City, South Dakota, theres something special going on. Theres a small coffee roaster that is not only roasting small craft batches of coffee, but theyre also doing it with an air roaster. Around only 1% of coffee beans are air roasted. Air roasting takes the acidic, bitter coffee jitters out of a cup of coffee. Pretty cool, right?
Not only are they roasting their beans in a revolutionary way, but theyre also giving back to their community, the environment, and the world as a whole. All of their coffee lots are organic and fair trade certified.
It doesnt stop there either. 10% of the proceeds from the sale of their single origin coffee supports orphaned and severely impoverished children around the world. Their project, Coffee with a Cause, is their spearhead program to help end the suffering of disadvantaged children through their coffee proceeds.
You can order their coffee online for nationwide delivery. Im eyeing the 695 Blend. Its a blend of South Pacific beans that bring a full body depending on the beans grind. Suppose youre looking for a special gift for a coffee lover. They can do specialty labels on any bag of your choosing.
La Marzocco Cafe & Showroom
Note: This location is temporarily closed as of August 2021.
La Marzocco Cafe & Showroom is a beautiful coffee institution at the base of the Seattle Space Needle. A high-end espresso machine manufacturer with equipment crafted in Italy, its cafe invites a new roaster to hold court each month. La Marzocco shares a space with the local radio station, KEXP, and a great little record store, too.
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Tennesee Vienna Coffee Company
Located in Maryville, Tn. Maryville is home to Vienna Coffee Company. The company started in Florida and eventually moved to the suburb of Knoxville. What started as a hobby has blossomed into a booming coffee roaster.
Most would think that Nashville would be the coffee hot spot for the state of Tennesse, but its located at the base of the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Vienna still has its main roasting facility in Maryville and has blossomed into multiple retail locations.
Their site has 52 coffee roasts and blends available for sale. But heres the cool part. They have a cold brew specialist that only does cold brew. Im impressed.
You can order their coffee for delivery anywhere in the US.
California Four Barrel Coffee
It should come as no surprise that California is home to the iced coffee craze that has America in its grips. That being said, California has some outstanding roasters, which made this pick especially hard. California is also our most populous state and 3rd largest, land wise.
Four Barrel Coffee has a full roasting catalog that has won multiple awards and a loyal following. And the company is an employee owned co-op which is cool because the employees drive the culture. I like it.
You can order their specialty roasted coffee online for home delivery in the US. They have an interesting approach for visitors to their online store. They treat it almost like wine. And, they have everything categorized by intended flavor. Im looking forward to placing an order next week. If your place your order by noon, they ship out that days roast the same day.
Did I mention that they use an antique German roaster that delivers robust flavors and is hard to replicate? After years of traveling the world and researching beans and roasters, they have some of the countrys best products.
If you do find yourself in the Bay Area, make sure to check out one of their 3 coffee shops.
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Alaska Kaladi Brothers Coffee
I didnt know this, but coffee is a big freaking deal in Alaska. It makes sense considering the average high in the most northern state in our union is 10.4 degrees! Coffee is hot. Coffee warms you up. And, coffee is something to do when the sun sets at 10:00 am. It makes sense, right?
Kaladi Brother, located in Anchorage, AK, started back in 1984 in Seattle. Believe it or not, Seattle only had 5 Starbucks at the time. They decided to replicate the Seattle coffee street carts in Anchorage.
The company now has 13 coffee shops, roasts millions of pounds of coffee a year, and repeatedly wins awards for some of the best craft roasted coffee in the country. They didnt stop there. They run an elite barista academy that not only trains their own staff but does consulting for other coffee shops on the best practices of making a killer cup of coffee.
Lets talk about the Kaladi Goat and how it came to be the logo for the Alaskan coffee empire. Legend has it a goat herder discovered coffee in ancient Arabia when his goats started bouncing off the pasture from eating coffee berries. The herder, named Kaladi, took the berries to a nearby monastery to tell them about the magic berries. Its been a human favorite ever since. The red goat on Kaladis logo is now known for excellent coffee.
South Carolina Coastal Coffee Roasters
Located in Summerville, NC, Coastal Coffee Roasters brings craft roasted coffee to the Low Country. Family owned and operated, their simple mission is to provide coffee thats roasted with passion.
You can buy their bagged coffee online, and each bag is produced on an as-needed basis to ensure the freshness and quality the roaster is known for. Make sure to check out their brewing equipment, too, to add to your arsenal of home brewing accessories.
The family wanted to share their love of small-batch roasted coffee with their community, so they opened Coastal Coffee Roasters. The small roastery was a big hit. They can be found roasting 7 days a week at their location along with their cafe with a full menu of yummy treats to enjoy with a latte.
You can order from their menu of select coffees to have delivered to your house. This small roaster offers a variety of sized bags and grinds to meet your personal coffee brewing needs.
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New York Gimme Coffee
Gimme! Coffee first opened its doors in a tiny roasting space in Ithaca, NY, in 2000. In the 20 years since, it has blossomed into 5 cafe locations, including its main roasting facility. The companys mission is:
- To find beautiful coffee, to reveal it in the roast, and prove it in the cup.
- To be knowledgeable and consummate hosts, thereby attracting and connecting people.
- And, to grow strong as a business by balancing nature, people, and profits.
Since their explosive growth, they couldve let these things fall to the wayside, but theyve stuck to their core values. They continue to grow and build their fundraising and community giving goals.
Gimme! Coffee offers online purchasing and has an extensive wholesale network. They also offer a full learning catalog on their site to make good coffee brewing techniques accessible to every home coffee brewer.
One of their newest locations is at Cornell University in the Bill and Melinda Gates Hall. Im guessing the Cornell students keep them busy with their late-night studying sessions. If you cant make it to the Cornell location, you can find their other 4 locations around Ithaca and Trumansburg, NY, or have their full line of roasts delivered to your home.
Espresso Vivace Sidewalk Bar
321 Broadway Avenue East, Seattle
David Schomer, the owner of Espresso Vivace, is a very successful roaster, author and business owner, and his dedication to quality coffee shows in the product he serves his customers. A cup of coffee here is a bold taste of perfection, as each blend is slow-roasted to intensify its full, caramel flavor. Espresso Vivace also has two other locations in the city one in Capitol Hill and the other in South Lake Union. For those interested in learning more about coffee roasting, David keeps up a very informative blog featuring brewing tips, reviews, and small business.
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Rhode Island New Harvest Coffee Roasters
Founded in 2000 by Rik Kleinfeldt and Paula Anderson, New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Rhode Islands best coffee roaster. Located in Pawtucket, RI, they spend 1000s of hours sourcing, roasting, grinding, brewing, and shipping out the best coffee that Rhode Island has to offer.
Like most good roasters, the company has a transparent buying policy to support the farmers they source from. They also have an extensive library of online coffee brewing tips and even bring their expertise to other coffee shops for training sessions.
If you cant make it to Pawtucket, make sure to check out their online store and coffee subscription services. They donate a portion of the profits from their roast, Sojo MoJoe, to a local womens shelter in the Pawtucket area.
Seattle Coffee Guide: Locally Roasted Beans
The bean has arrived. Once a mere commodity, coffee beans in the past decade or so have been treated
The bean has arrived. Once a mere commodity, coffee beans in the past decade or so have been treated like wine grapescoddled, encouraged and coaxed into their full potential. Now, more than ever, the coffee beans pedigree is everything.
As with many culinary offshoots, the coffee world has adopted the term terroirthe special characteristics of the place and climate in which beans are grownwhich is not only acknowledged by a few coffee geeks, but asked after by picky café hounds. The old guard that started roasting beans in the 1970s in SeattleJim Stewart of Stewart Brothers Coffee , for instancehand-roasted small batches of beans in either the northern European lighter style or the bolder southern Italian style of espresso. But these pioneers had a vision of coffee as a culinary art all its own, beyond the watery, flavorless American cuppa joe toward a more traditional shot of espresso. They may have never imagined how far their trailblazing would go.
Originally published October 2010
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The Best Coffee Roaster In Every State
If you like to travel and love small-batch roasted coffee, this 2022 guide to the best coffee roasters in every state is for you. This list of best coffee roasters in the US is going to open up a world of possibilities of coffee roasters for you. Not only can you visit these roasters if youre traveling, but most of them also offer online ordering to have their expert roasted beans delivered to your door.
This post provides a recommendation for the best coffee roaster in every state.
Also, please check out the prices at Death Wish Coffee and get more caffeine for your buck.
Best Pacific Coffee Roasters
The West Coast of the United States covers a lot of geography. The Pacific region also includes Alaska and Hawaii, our most distant states. Theres a lot to cover in this region, including the Pacific North Wests Coffee Meca. After all, Starbucks is from Seattle. We owe Bucks for bringing craft, specialty coffee mainstream. Theres even a Starbucks in the tiny town my grandparents live in. Theres not a stoplight, but, dang it, theres a Starbucks. I digress. Lets jump in!
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Montana Black Coffee Roasting Co
A cheesemonger and a wine sales rep walk into a party. They become friends and realize they love coffee. What did they do? The 2 friends, Matt McQuilkin and Jim Chapman, realized that Missoula was missing something. The liberal, outdoorsy town didnt have a specialty coffee roaster.
The 2 set out to fill that gap from a garage. What started as a humble dream has grown into Montanas best coffee roaster. Black Coffee Roasting Co. is located in a Quonset hut in the hip part of Missoula, MT. Their location brings a whimsical blend of craft coffee roasting and industrial design to the roasting space.
The location is a cafe and roaster. McQuilkin and Chapman can be found in the space at any time. They decided to concentrate on organic coffee as their source of beans. They believe that chemicals are bad for humans and coffee.
You can order their award-winning beans in a variety of grinds for home delivery. Their site has a coffee quiz to help you decide what roast or blend to order based on your taste preferences. I took the coffee quiz to see if what coffee I usually order lines up with the coffee Black Coffee thought was right for me. Guess what? It was spot on. The quiz is super helpful and not something you see at a ton of online coffee stores.
Virginia Cervantes Coffee Roasters
After working in small business, literacy, and small farmer education, Marialy moved to the next logical step of opening a small coffee roaster. She and her staff take pride in their farmer relations, knowledge of a great roasting technique, and bring you the best cup of coffee in Virginia.
You can read about everything Cervantes and coffee on the learning section of their website. They offer in-person and virtual classes on everything from coffee roasting basics to the importance of understanding where your coffee comes from.
But what I was drawn to was their cold brew specific blend that you can have shipped to your house. This is another sign that the cold brew market is strong and here to stay. .
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Seven Market & Cafe Coffee Roasters
Seven Market & Cafe, which opened in 1922, is reportedly Seattles original market. They serve the coffee-craving residents of Ravenna and the University of Washingtons neighboring areas.
Seven Coffee Roasters, the parent firm, is a coffee roasting company based in South Seattle. Seven roasts coffee regularly for several small businesses in the Puget Sound area.
Seven also delivers freshly roasted coffee to customers homes all across the United States. Their website allows customers to place orders directly. The coffee is freshly roasted and delivered within 2-3 days, and shipping is free.
Pros:
- Wide range of pastry and food to pair with your specialty coffee
- Brazil Carmo de Minas and Roasters choices are amazing
Cons:
- Double-check so they dont replace your online bean order with a random alternative
- Can get crowded
Best Coffee In Downtown Seattle
- Anchorhead Coffee
Made up of numerous micro-neighborhoods such as South Lake Union and Pioneer Square, Downtown Seattle is home to the original Starbucks, whose Pike Place Market store still gathers winding lines, though mainly for the touristic opportunity. But what is now the most recognizable coffee brand in the world is not the catalyst to what eventually became a blossoming coffee scene.
While Starbucks spread far and wide, the coffee-obsessed Seattle crowd of the late 1990s helped spearhead a wave of coffee shops that established themselves in the heart of the city.
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Washington Dillanos Coffee Roasters
And here we are, the Coffee Meca of the US. Weve arrived. Washington State. Home of the specialty coffee empire, Starbucks. But were not going to talk about Starbucks. We are talking about Dillanos Coffee Roasters.
Dillanos was started in 1992 by David Morris with some family help. Davis came up with the name because his sons name is Dillan. Dillanos has gone on to be one of the biggest specialty roasters in America. They specialize in unique roasts with single origins as well. Their packaging has won multiple awards, and they were named the Best Macro Roaster in North America in 2011.
Their mission statement is Help People. Make Friends. Have Fun.. That seems to be the secret to their success. They offer 49 different blends, single-origin roasts, and samplers, as well as subscription services.
Their One Harvest line is made up of single-origin beans that are purchased from direct trade relationships. The feel-good of direct trade is there are no middlemen in the purchasing process that funnel down the money to the farmer. This ensures the coffee farmer makes as much of their harvest as possible to improve their lives.
Elm Coffee Roasters South Lake Union
Opened in August 2018, this location of Elm Coffee Roasters is in the lobby of the 9th & Thomas building. Large windows let the sunlight stream in.
Here, fabulous Elm Coffee mixes with the stunning design by famous architects. The café gives you regular table seating, but you can also take your coffee over to the comfortable adjoining hotel lobby to sink deep into the inviting armchairs.
This Elm Coffee Roasters location has the feeling of a home living room with a superb coffee bar attached.
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