Happy New Year everyone! We’re excited to share some information about the roasters we’ll be kicking off the new year with. Order by Jan. 15th, 2015 to receive these three roasters in your box.
Red Rooster Coffee
Red Rooster began in 1994 as a wholesaler of coffee to the gourmet gift market. Due to the wild fluctuations of coffee prices, and the rise of the national coffee giants, they shut their doors down for some time. 17 years later they opened back up, this time roasting their own fresh coffee after doing so personally during the down time. They’re a family business focused on supporting developing countries and their efforts to build sustainable products. We think that’s pretty neat that they get to teach their kids the value of quality through their business! Their mission is to share their love of fresh-roasted, quality coffee while partnering with the community in mutually beneficial relationships.
They carry out their mission in a few ways, particularly by providing Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance ceritfied, oganic, or farm direct coffee whenever they can. They also have a pretty unique fundraising program for families, individuals, non-profits, faith based orgs, businesses and schools
Carolina Coffee Roasting Company
Carolina Coffee Roasting Company was formed in 1992 to preserve the fine tradition of small batch coffee roasting. They operated two coffee shops at first, and in 2003 chose to devote themselves exclusively to roasting while working with our wholesale partners. The Carolina Coffee team along with others on the R&D team, have perfected over 100 roast profiles and blends! How did they do that?
Carolina Coffee even has an esteemed Roast Master that has devoted his career to the study of coffee bean cultivation, selection, roasting and blending. They also offer Fair Trade, Organic and Rain Forest Alliance coffees to their customers. They also sell a wide range of teas, syrups, sauces, drink mixes, espresso and coffee brewing equipment, blenders and other café smallware and supplies.
Dilworth Coffee
Dilworth is likely one of the oldest and largest roasters we will have the opportunity to feature! They’ve been bringing locally roasted coffees to the historic Dilworth neighborhood in Charlotte since 1989! That’s a long time!
Their custom “Dilworth Coffeehouse” style of coffee. So well received by the Charlotte community, they began selling to other shops and opening other locations. After opening their second Dilworth Coffeehouse, roasting was moved to a separate and larger location, so freshly roasted coffee could be shipped out to the stores each morning. They now have four coffee houses around Charlotte, so we are happy to share it with the rest of the state.
Coffee Crate’s 2014 was quick, but packed, it’s hard to believe we’ve only been around for a couple months! The idea was hatched at the end of September, we started contacting roasters then began building our website the day before Halloween, and officially launched our website for signups just two weeks later. Thanks to some blind luck, Cratejoy featured our box along with 5 other great subscription box brands on Fox and Friends just a month after that! We’ve also since been highlighted on this great article about coffee roasters in the Our State magazine, as well as in this humorous video for last-minute, NC-based gift ideas from the folks at ExitEvent.
While all of that was going on, Page and Amber had their baby the day we shipped our first boxes, and the next week my wife and I closed on our first house around downtown Raleigh. Needless to say it has been one of the busiest, yet most exciting couple months of our lives, but we’ve truly loved every minute of it. Talking to roasters, getting plugged into the coffee community, and getting to know some of you has been an incredible experience so far. We can only imagine what 2015 will bring for us!
For you all, we are exploring options for a nicer box design, re-design the website, start e-commerce, participate in giving coffee-education, producing beautiful content about our roasters, and even having a few surprises! Follow along on this blog or our email newsletter to get updates as we go. We love you guys, here’s to a great 2015.