Our Story
Boxcar was started in 2010 by husband and wife team, Vajra and Cara Rich, with the goal of building a world-class roasting company in their hometown of Boulder, Colorado. After starting as a standalone roastery and building a small following by partnering with some amazing local restaurants and cafes, we opened the doors to our first cafe on the sleepy east end of Pearl St. in downtown Boulder, allowing us to showcase our coffees in an elevated and forward-thinking way. Since its inception, Boxcar has grown to a team of 25 talented coffee professionals. Our spaces include a busy cafe, bakery, and a dedicated roastery and training lab, which serves numerous wholesale accounts around the country.
Learning to make coffee high in the mountains of Colorado forced Vajra to think critically about the science of brewing at altitude. What was born out of that experience was not only our proprietary brewing method, the Boilermakr, but also a spirit of experimentation and progression that shapes the company to this day.
"WE DEFINITELY HAD A STRONG FEELING THAT WE WANTED TO DO THINGS OUR WAY, IN HOPES THAT PEOPLE WOULD GET IT, AND THAT IT WOULD WORK."
Founder Vajra Rich, Bon Appetit
Every year we’ve been in business, we have purchased a majority of our coffee from Mauricio Salaverria and his team at Divisadero Farms in El Salvador. We pay significantly over C-market price and/or Fair Trade prices for his coffees, as we do with all of our purchasing. Our focus on sustainable and long-lasting relationships are at the heart of what we do, and supporting Mauricio and his team is just one example of how we accomplish that.
“A NICE CUP OF COFFEE IS A GOOD WAY TO START THE DAY AND PUTS A SMILE ON YOUR FACE. IT’S OUR JOB TO GIVE EACH PERSON SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT.”
Founder Vajra Rich, Bon Appetit
We roast our coffees on highly modified vintage Probat drum roasters, which are world-renowned for their ability to produce amazing coffees. Our roasting team uses state of the art roasting software and decades of combined roasting experience to bring out the best in the coffees we source, resulting in incredibly sweet and rich cups of coffee. Our goal is to make coffee not only delicious, but approachable and fun as well.
Over the 10 years Boxcar has been in business, it has become clear that the most important aspect of business is the relationships we create. Throughout the years, we've been lucky to have built quite a few lifelong relationships, which keeps us inspired to do our best work, day in and day out. From our wholesale partners, producer relationships, and the team members who have been with us since the beginning, our longstanding relationships have kept Boxcar going and are inextricably linked to our success.