Where the coffee comes from · And who made the room.

An origin
story.

A roastery is mostly a series of small decisions made well, repeated for a long time. This is how ours started, and the people we make it with.

Coffee being roasted
The beginning

A drum roaster
and too many notebooks.

It started in the garage on Thomas Avenue in 2023. Naomi had a one-kilo San Franciscan she'd bought used from a roaster closing up in Asheville. Eli had a stack of green-coffee samples and an idea that we could do this slowly, and quietly, for people who already lived nearby.

For two years we roasted weekend mornings, sold bags at the Saturday market, and learned to listen for the second crack. We kept the day jobs. We took notes on everything.

In early 2026 the storefront at 1418 Central came open. We signed the lease the same week. The café opened on a soft April morning, with twelve seats and three coffees, which is still what we have today.

The two of us.

Naomi runs the roast and the books. Eli runs the bar and the visits to origin. The third member of the team is Margaret, who keeps the pastry case stocked and the espresso machine clean.

Naomi
Co-founder · Roaster

Naomi Park

Spent eight years in pastry kitchens before falling sideways into coffee. Believes the roast curve is mostly a question of restraint.

Eli
Co-founder · Sourcing

Eli Whittaker

Travels to Colombia and Ethiopia twice a year. Has a notebook for every farm. Will explain processing for as long as you'll listen.

Margaret
Lead barista

Margaret Liu

Joined in our first month. Has dialed in every grinder we own. Pulls the cleanest cortados in the building.

"We don't want to be a chain. We don't want to be a destination. We want to be the place you walk to on Sunday morning."
— Naomi, in the journal · Issue 02

The farms
we know by name.

We buy from importers who pay above-FOB prices and share their numbers. Whenever we can, we visit. Three of the relationships we've held the longest:

01

Finca La Esperanza · Huila, Colombia

Don Eduardo Méndez and his daughter Lucía have farmed this hillside since 1994. We've been buying his washed Caturra lots since 2024. Last March we helped fund a new fermentation tank.

02

Konga Washing Station · Gedeo, Ethiopia

Run by Israel Degfa's cooperative, which sources from roughly four hundred smallholders within fifteen kilometers. The natural process here is among the most careful we've seen.

03

Lake Toba smallholders · Sumatra, Indonesia

A group of seventeen farmers around Lintongnihuta, organized through our importer Cafe Imports. Wet-hulled at the village level, dried on patios, blended only at our request.

Read the origin notes