A garage, a Probat, and a refusal to cut corners.
Mara Okonkwo bought her first drum roaster the same week she quit a job she was good at and didn’t love. The garage smelled like chaff for a year.
She wasn’t chasing scale — she was chasing a single, stubborn idea: that a coffee should taste like the place it grew. That meant getting on planes, meeting farmers, and paying real money for real quality. It meant roasting in batches small enough to babysit, and throwing out the ones that weren’t right.
Fourteen origin partners later, almost nothing about that idea has changed. We’re bigger. We’re not different.
Direct & transparent
We publish what we pay. Every bag traces back to a farm, a lot, and a price above market.
Small batch, always
Six kilos at a time. It is slower and it costs more — and it is the only way we know how.
Roasted to the bean
No house style imposed on a coffee. We roast each origin to reveal what is already there.
A short history
2012
A garage and one Probat
Mara roasts her first 12 kg batch in a Brooklyn garage and sells it at a Saturday market.
2015
First direct-trade trip
We fly to Huila, Colombia and sign our first direct relationship with the Ruiz family farm.
2018
The Meridian tasting room
We open our flagship cafe and roastery — green store, cupping lab, and a 24-seat counter.
2024
Fourteen partners, one standard
Our green book now spans 14 origin partners across three continents, all bought direct.
“Their Yirgacheffe ruined every other morning coffee for me. I mean that as the highest compliment.”