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Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters – Coffee With a Conscience
by Jenica Smith

If a wine connoisseur suddenly found out that a winery producing some of the finest wine in the world was just blocks away from his or her own front door, he or she would probably be pretty excited. That’s exactly how Sheila Smith of Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters hopes specialty coffee lovers will react when they realize that a roasting facility turning out some of the best coffee in the world is right here in Atlanta. “A lot of people aren’t aware that we’re here,” says Smith.

Founded in 1986 in Olympia, Washington by Dick Batdorf and Shannon Bronson, this specialty coffee company rose to popularity on the west coast with a dedication to a fresh, quality product and environmentally-friendly practices. Bought by Larry and Cherie Challain in 1990, Batdorf & Bronson expanded eastward while continuing to stick to sustainable methods. In 1994, the company opened the Atlanta roastery, now located on Carroll Drive off of Marietta Boulevard, to ensure that east coast customers could also receive fresh coffee within 24-72 hours of roasting.

Sold in Atlanta at mostly mom-and-pop shops, Batdorf & Bronson coffee is available at Belly General Store, Aurora Coffee, Breadgarden and Sun in My Belly, among other locations. In 2000, Batdorf & Bronson opened a tasting bar inside of Star Provisions, the gourmet boutique attached to Bacchanalia restaurant. The tasting bar is manned by a knowledgeable Batdorf & Bronson employee who educates tasters about the products and their origin.

At the roasting facility, Smith, who is the Atlanta roastery manager, says that top quality green, or unroasted, coffee beans are received in large burlap sacks after being personally selected by the Batdorf & Bronson green bean buyer. The buyer first travels the world in search of the top one percent of the top 10 percent of coffee. Green beans (as in young coffee beans - not to be confused with the vegetable that your mother made you eat) arrive at the facility from countries around the world, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Kenya, Tanzania and Mexico. Inside the smallish warehouse space, the beans are carefully roasted by three well-trained, talented roasters smelling, listening and watching over the 12-minute process and tweaking the timers and the heat. “There’s a definite craft and art to roasting,” says Smith.

Post-roasting, debris is mechanically sorted out and the beans are packed up and readied for shipment, but not before they are sampled in a “cupping” session by Batdorf & Bronson staff. The beans are assessed carefully to ensure that each batch will produce a cup of coffee with the correct body and the best acidity. Any below-par beans are discarded along with the entire batch from which they came. According to Smith, “We’re trying to find that perfect, perfect, perfect cup.”

After roasting, the beans are sold wholesale both as single-origin coffees and as specialty blends. The company house blend, Dancing Goats, is the most popular with consumers. A dark, smooth coffee with a floral aroma and a nutty flavor, Dancing Goats Blend is a favorite of Smith as well. “The blend and balance and complexity of the bean make it a wonderful anytime coffee,” she says.

Batdorf & Bronson employees not only watch carefully, even obsessively, over the roasting process, but they are also actively involved in the steps before the beans even reach the roasters. When producing what they call relationship coffee, Batdorf & Bronson employees and coffee farmers work together to ensure that the finest product is being grown and harvested in the finest conditions. “We make sure they’re taking care of their workers and the environment,” says Smith.

Smith says that a group of employees travels each year to the La Minita Estate in Costa Rica to pick, mill and live with the workers in the field. “It’s amazing to see how much work goes into one cup of coffee,” she says. “From the seed to the cup, we are very involved in the community and the environment.”

In fact, according to Smith, Batdorf & Bronson is the only green-powered coffee company in the United States, with the west coast roasteries being powered by wind. With no wind-power option on the east coast, Batdorf & Bronson instead matches its energy bill for the Atlanta roastery each month with a contribution towards helping further spread wind-power efforts eastward.

Batdorf & Bronson is also involved with Coffee Kids, a non-profit organization whose mission statement vows to “improve the quality of life for coffee-farming families.” Smith says that not only does Batdorf & Bronson contribute as a company, but also many employees individually choose to contribute an amount from each paycheck to Coffee Kids. “It’s so refreshing to work for a company that really, really cares about everyone involved from the picker to the person who poured that shot in the end,” she says.

For some caffeine fiends, any old cup of java may do. But for those with a discerning palate, a love of the environment and a taste for the specialty cup of top-quality coffee, Batdorf & Bronson has what you’re looking for. Smith simply advises, “Try the coffee, it speaks for itself.”

That said, you can’t argue with perfection. And apparently, some of Atlanta’s top restaurants and coffee retailers agree.

Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters are located at 1530 Carroll Drive in Atlanta. For more information about Batdorf & Bronson coffee or sustainability practices visit www.batdorf.com or call 800-955-JAVA.

From top: Espresso; Roasting manager Sheila Smith and co-worker take part in quality control tasting session; A Batdorf & Bronson shipment bag; Aaron Shively roasts coffee beans.