America has never had a better moment for coffee. From the misty Pacific Northwest to the buzzing streets of New York City, a new generation of roasters is pushing the craft to places it has never been before. Whether you are brewing at home, running a café, or simply on a quest for the perfect cup, this list of 25 best coffee roasters in America is your guide.
At CoffENZO — your go-to coffee blog and soon-to-be Texas café — we eat, sleep, and breathe great coffee. These are the 25 best coffee roasters in America that we believe every coffee lover in America should know about right now.
1. Stumptown Coffee Roasters
📍 Portland, Oregon • Founded: 1999
Stumptown has been a pillar of American specialty coffee since Duane Sorenson opened the doors in Portland back in 1999. It was one of the first roasters to push direct trade — building real relationships with farmers long before it was trendy.
Today, Stumptown ships its beloved Hair Bender blend and seasonal single-origins to coffee lovers across the country.
2. Intelligentsia Coffee
📍 Chicago, Illinois • Founded: 1995
Intelligentsia launched in Chicago in 1995, arriving on the scene when specialty coffee was barely a whisper in America. Green coffee buyer Geoff Watts helped pioneer the direct trade movement in the mid-2000s, forever changing how roasters source their beans.
With 11 cafes and a growing international presence, Intelligentsia remains one of the most influential names in the business.
3. Counter Culture Coffee
📍 Durham, North Carolina • Founded: 1995
Counter Culture has called Durham, North Carolina home since 1995, and it has spent three decades quietly building one of the most respected names in specialty coffee. It is one of the few major roasters that is employee-owned, giving the team full freedom to stay mission-driven.
Their direct trade relationships, transparency reports, and nationwide training centers have shaped how a whole generation of baristas thinks about coffee.
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4. Onyx Coffee Lab
📍 Springdale, Arkansas • Founded: 2012
Onyx Coffee Lab launched in 2012 in Northwest Arkansas and quickly became one of the most talked-about roasters on the planet.
In 2025, it earned the designation of the number one coffee shop in North America — a title that surprised no one in the specialty coffee world.
Their radical transparency, competition-winning baristas, and consistently 90-plus-scoring roasts make Onyx a name every serious coffee drinker should know.
5. Blue Bottle Coffee
📍 Oakland, California • Founded: 2002
James Freeman founded Blue Bottle in Oakland in 2002, starting with a tiny kiosk and an obsessive focus on freshness. The idea was simple — never sell coffee more than 48 hours off the roast.
That philosophy turned a small California operation into a nationally recognized brand with cafes stretching from coast to coast.
6. George Howell Coffee
📍 Boston, Massachusetts • Founded: 2004
George Howell is a living legend in the coffee world. After founding The Coffee Connection and later selling it to Starbucks, he returned to coffee with an even deeper commitment to quality and re-established his roastery in Boston in 2004.
He co-founded the Cup of Excellence program — the gold standard for identifying the world’s finest coffees — and his Boston flagship treats every roast like a fine wine vintage.
7. Ritual Coffee Roasters
📍 San Francisco, California • Founded: 2005
Ritual Coffee Roasters was born in San Francisco in 2005, founded by Eileen Hassi Rinaldi at the very heart of the third wave coffee movement. It is proudly independent and woman-owned, with six cafes spread across San Francisco and Napa.
Ritual sources directly from farmers in Central America, South America, and Africa, and its small-batch approach has never wavered.
8. Passenger Coffee
📍 Lancaster, Pennsylvania • Founded: 2014
Passenger Coffee opened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2014 and has quietly built a reputation for exceptional quality control and consistency.
One of their most remarkable practices is freezing green coffee beans to preserve peak freshness before roasting — a technique almost unheard of even among elite roasters.
PC also offers reserve lots dating back to 2022, giving coffee lovers a rare chance to taste history in a cup.
9. Wonderstate Coffee
📍 Viroqua, Wisconsin • Founded: 2005
Wonderstate Coffee, founded in 2005 in the small Wisconsin town of Viroqua, is proof that world-class coffee doesn’t require a big city address.
The roaster won Roast Magazine’s prestigious Macro Roaster of the Year award for 2025, cementing its status as one of America’s finest.
With three cafes, 80 employees, and 450,000 pounds of coffee roasted annually, Wonderstate keeps its values as big as its output.
10. Dear Green Coffee Roasters
📍 Atlanta, Georgia • Founded: 2011
Dear Green Coffee Roasters was founded in Atlanta in 2011 by Lisa Lawson, with a clear mission rooted in fair work practices and environmental responsibility.
In 2025, they won Roast Magazine’s Micro Roaster of the Year award — one of the highest honors in the industry.
With a tight-knit team of ten and a dedication to ethical sourcing, Dear Green proves that small operations can make an enormous impact.
11. Heart Coffee Roasters
📍 Portland, Oregon • Founded: 2009
Heart Coffee Roasters was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2009 by Finnish entrepreneur Wille Yli-Luoma, who traded a career in snowboarding for a life in specialty coffee.
Heart is known for exclusively sourcing washed coffees, letting the origin and terroir speak for themselves without the influence of processing methods.
Their clean, minimalist approach — both in packaging and in the cup — has earned them wholesale partners across the country.
12. Sey Coffee
📍 Brooklyn, New York • Founded: 2013
Sey Coffee started in 2013 in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, helping to ignite a specialty coffee renaissance in New York City.
Their Scandinavian-influenced approach leans into super-light roasts and exclusively washed coffees, creating some of the most delicate and expressive cups you will find anywhere.
Step inside their café and you can watch the roasting happen through a glass wall — coffee transparency at its most literal.
13. Black and White Coffee Roasters
📍 Durham, North Carolina • Founded: 2017
Black and White Coffee Roasters launched in Durham, North Carolina, in 2017, founded by two US Barista Champions — Kyle Ramage and Lem Butler.
Their combined decades of competition experience translate directly into the cup, where precision and intentionality are evident in every roast.
Despite the prestige behind the brand, their mission is democratic: make world-class coffee accessible to everyone.
14. Mr. Espresso
📍 San Francisco, California • Founded: 1978
Carlo di Ruocco founded Mr. Espresso in San Francisco in 1978, bringing the tradition of Italian wood-fire roasting to American shores.
His classically-inspired espresso won over culinary legends like Alice Waters and helped introduce authentic espresso culture into the American dining scene.
Today, the second generation of the di Ruocco family carries on the tradition, still roasting slowly over oak wood logs.
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15. Olympia Coffee Roasters
📍 Olympia, Washington • Founded: 2005
Olympia Coffee Roasters has been crafting small-batch artisan coffee in Olympia, Washington since 2005, with Sam Schroeder and Oliver Stormshak at the helm since 2010.
The roaster holds a certified B Corporation status, reflecting a genuine commitment to people and planet over profit.
Their direct trade relationships in Central and South America and retail presence across Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia make them a Pacific Northwest cornerstone.
16. Red Rooster Coffee
📍 Floyd, Virginia • Founded: 2010
Red Rooster Coffee launched in Floyd, Virginia, in 2010, founded by Rose McCutchan with sustainability and gender equality at the center of everything.
Coffee Review has given over 40 of their coffees scores above 90 points, and the roaster has won three Good Food Awards.
They also hold the remarkable distinction of being the only coffee company in the United States with an on-site daycare for their staff’s children.
17. Victrola Coffee Roasters
📍 Seattle, Washington • Founded: 2000
Victrola Coffee Roasters has been a Seattle institution since the year 2000, blending quality coffee with the warmth of vintage jazz ambiance in their Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill locations.
They source beans from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Latin America, Vietnam, and Indonesia — offering a genuinely global palette of flavors. Their commitment to community spaces makes every visit feel like more than just a coffee stop.
18. Greater Goods Coffee
📍 Austin, Texas • Founded: 2016
Greater Goods Coffee was born in Austin, Texas in 2016, founded by a husband-and-wife team who believe business can genuinely be a force for good.
A Roast Magazine award-winner, Greater Goods only partners with producers who share their values on sustainability and fair wages.
The roastery also doubles as a Specialty Coffee Association Premier Training Campus, meaning they are shaping the next generation of coffee professionals right here in Texas.
19. Devoción
📍 Brooklyn, New York • Founded: 2006
Devoción was founded in 2006 in Brooklyn by Colombian entrepreneur Steven Sutton, with a singular obsession — getting the freshest possible Colombian coffee into the hands of American drinkers.
Their beans travel from farm to roaster in as few as ten days, a feat almost unheard of in the industry.
The result is a cup that tastes impossibly alive, bursting with the kind of freshness that most roasters can only dream about.
20. JBC Coffee Roasters
📍 Madison, Wisconsin • Founded: 1994
JBC Coffee Roasters has been roasting out of Madison, Wisconsin, since 1994, making it one of the longer-standing specialty roasters in the country.
Their coffees consistently earn high ratings on Coffee Review, and the company has four Good Food Awards to its name.
As they put it themselves, they will not buy a coffee unless they know it will inspire you, and that standard comes through in every single bag.
21. Tandem Coffee Roasters
📍 Portland, Maine • Founded: 2013
Tandem Coffee Roasters was founded in 2013 in Portland, Maine, by Kathleen and Will Pratt, two coffee professionals who had worked at specialty cafes from coast to coast before putting down roots in New England.
Their ever-rotating selection of single origins and blends reflects years of experience and a deep, genuine love of the craft.
Tandem is the kind of roaster that makes you feel the history in every cup.
22. Abracadabra Coffee
📍 Woodstock, New York • Founded: 2015
Abracadabra Coffee has been fueling the creative community of Woodstock, New York, since 2015, blending artisan roasting with total transparency about sourcing.
They are refreshingly upfront about exactly where every bean comes from, which benefits both the farmers they work with and the customers they serve.
At a time when coffee marketing can feel all smoke and mirrors, Abracadabra keeps it real.
23. Polite Coffee
📍 Bryan, Texas • Founded: 2014
Polite Coffee was founded in Bryan, Texas, in 2014 by Army veteran Steve Turner, who left the military and channeled his discipline and dedication into the world of specialty coffee.
Housed in the historic Kyle House in downtown Bryan, this Texas-grown roaster has built a loyal following through exceptional quality and a genuine commitment to community.
Polite Coffee is proof that the Lone Star State is quietly becoming a serious player in the specialty coffee scene.
24. Elixr Coffee Roasters
📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Founded: 2012
Elixr Coffee Roasters opened in Philadelphia in 2012 with a philosophy built around relentless improvement — always refining their sourcing, roasting, and brewing to chase the most delicious cup possible.
That obsessive pursuit has paid off, earning them eight national recognition awards in roasting and coffee competitions.
They were also ranked the best cold brew in America, a title that speaks to both their creativity and their craft.
25. Equator Coffees
📍 San Rafael, California • Founded: 1995
Equator Coffees has been roasting in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1995, built on a foundation of sustainability, transparency, and exceptional quality.
Co-founder Helen Russell became the first woman to win the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCA) award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry.
With certified B Corporation status and a farm of their own in Panama, Equator is a rare roaster that genuinely walks the walk.
The Cup is Always Half Full
American coffee has never been more exciting, more diverse, or more delicious than it is right now. Each roaster on this list of 25 Coffee Roasters in America tells a story — of passion, craft, and a deep respect for the bean and the people who grow it.
We hope this guide helps you find your next favorite cup.
Here at CoffeNZO, we are on a journey of our own. We are a coffee blog built for people who take their cup seriously — and we are working toward opening our very first café right here in Texas.
Stay close. The best is brewing.
Read CoffENZO.com — because great coffee deserves great company.
