We opened Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters in 2006, in a small café and drive-thru in Crystal Lake IL. We jumped into the coffee industry head first. There were some things we all really cared about. First, we wanted to find, roast, and sell the absolute best coffees we could get our hands on.
There are a few ways that coffee roasters can buy coffee. The first and most popular way is from the many specialty coffee importers in the United States who travel the world in search of coffees to sell. Nowadays, most of the relationship between a roaster and an importer can happen online. Some roasters work to cultivate relationships directly with the people growing their coffee. These relationships are often facilitated and managed by an importer and can be beneficial for all parties.
We buy coffee from 3 or 4 importers at any given time. Every week we sample a variety of coffees from different countries around the world. We take note of the ones we really like. We’ll do this over the course of a few weeks before returning to the coffees we really liked for another sample. From these coffees we will curate our seasonal coffee offerings.
