Roaster Feature: Larry's Coffee

Larry’s Coffee is a unique and innovative coffee roasting company out of Raleigh, North Carolina. In addition to brewing distinctive new blends of coffee, Larry’s Coffee is dedicated to being socially responsible and sustainable. Their coffee is 100% Fair Trade and organic thanks to their desire to bring good into the world one cup of coffee at a time.

Larry’s Coffee all started from an undeniable passion. Larry Larson, Seattle native and coffee fanatic, decided to follow his passion for roasting unique coffee. Graduate school brought him to the East Coast and soon he was throwing himself into his job as a roaster in Raleigh’s very first coffee house. As his passion for roasting grew, he decided to settle in Raleigh permanently and open up his own roasting facility. And this is where Larry’s quest for sustainability and socially responsible coffee began.

Larry’s Coffee started reaching out to smaller farms in remote areas for their beans. At first, this tactic was simply to help them find the most unique flavors to make the best coffee around. But it turned into something much bigger than that. Larry went to Chiapas, Mexico and saw what these farmers had to go through on a daily basis to grow their coffee beans-extreme lack of government services and hostile army forces patrolling the region, just to name a few. He began learning how Fair Trade could benefit everyone involved, and he never looked back. Larry helped to found Cooperative Coffees, the first and only U.S. coffee cooperative that sources Fair Trade beans directly from farmers.

But Larry wanted to make his entire roasting operation sustainable and green, so he went above and beyond to ‘green-o-vate’ his facilities. He researched and oversaw major renovations to his business like installing solar water heating panels, water harvesting tanks, and a radiant heat floor. If you’re ever in the Raleigh area, you may be lucky enough to spot the small school bus that runs on veggie oil and delivers Larry’s Coffee products personally to each customer. Great customer service brought to you by a completely green, energy efficient vehicle- that’s an accomplishment.

Today, Larry is living his dreams, fostering positive relationships with new people, and roasting completely unique coffee on a daily basis. Larry’s Coffee takes the concept of social responsibility and sustainability to the next level, all while providing next-level coffee to all of their customers. Now that’s something we can get behind.