Roast Magazine Announces 2024 Roaster of the Year Winners

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Oct 17

Bridge City Coffee and Verve Coffee Roasters

PORTLAND, OREGON (Oct. 18, 2023) — Bridge City Coffee and Verve Coffee Roasters have won Roast magazine’s 20th annual Roaster of the Year award in the Micro and Macro roaster categories, respectively. The two coffee roasting companies will be featured in the trade publication’s November/December 2023 issue.

Roast awards top honors in two categories: Micro Roaster of the Year, for companies roasting fewer than 100,000 pounds of coffee each year; and Macro Roaster of the Year, for companies roasting more than 100,000 pounds annually. The award recognizes companies that roast coffees of superior quality, exemplify a dedication to sustainability, promote employee and community education, and demonstrate a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity, among other criteria.

Bridge City Coffee was founded in 2017 by owner Gregory Ward. With 42 full-time and part-time employees, the company has a roasting facility and three retail cafes in the Greenville, South Carolina, area, as well as roasting operations in Waco, Texas. Between the two locations, Bridge City roasted over 32,000 pounds of coffee in the past year. Learn more at bridgecity.coffee.

Verve Coffee Roasters was founded in 2007 by Colby Barr and Ryan O’Donovan in Santa Cruz, California. With over 260 full-time and part-time employees, the company operates roasting facilities and 19 retail locations, across Northern California, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, Japan. Verve has roasted 1.5 million pounds of coffee in the past year. Learn more at vervecoffee.com.

In addition to Bridge City Coffee, finalists for the Micro Roaster category were Dear Green Coffee Roasters and Three Keys Coffee. Along with Verve Coffee Roasters, finalists for the Macro Roaster category were Nossa Familia Coffee and Groundwork Coffee. Congratulations to all of the finalists for making incredible commitments to the industry, employees, partners across the value stream, and within local neighborhoods.

About Roast Magazine

Roast magazine is a bi-monthly technical trade journal dedicated to the success and growth of the specialty coffee industry. Roast addresses the art, science and business of coffee roasters by covering the issues most important to them, with quality editorial content focused on the technical aspects of coffee. For more information, visit roastmagazine.com.