Roast Magazine Announces 2023 Roaster of the Year Winners

Roast Magazine Announces 2023 Roaster of the Year Winners

Rabbit Hole Roasters and Cafe Kreyol have won Roast magazine’s 19th annual Roaster of the Year competition. The two coffee roasting companies will be featured in the trade publication’s November/December 2022 issue.

Roast awards the 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 solid commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity, among other criteria.

2023 Micro Roaster of the Year: Rabbit Hole Roasters

Rabbit Hole Roasters was founded in 2018 by co-owners Sophie Moreau and David Lalonde. The company operates a roasting facility in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is projected to roast over 25,000 pounds this year.

Here’s an excerpt from the feature article in Roast’s November/December issue:

“Over the past four years, Moreau and Lalonde have poured their energy into the deep and meaningful work of building strong relationships—with farmers, importers, wholesale partners, and even with online customers and the global coffee community through a robust social media presence. Part of that work is focused on shining light on inequities in the coffee supply chain and beyond, highlighting the often-hidden details of coffee economics, and trying to open the world of specialty coffee to a wider range of consumers.”

2023 Macro Roaster of the Year: Cafe Kreyol

Joseph Stazzone, president and owner of Cafe Kreyol, leads a team of five employees at the company’s roasting headquarters in Manassas, Virginia. The company, established in 2012, is projected to produce 276,000 pounds of roasted coffee this year, in addition to importing an estimated 630,000 pounds of green coffee.

Here’s an excerpt from the feature article in Roast’s November/December issue:

“Focusing on his commitment never to take jobs from local communities, Stazzone began in Haiti by setting up tree nurseries to establish a sustainable business model for the producers there. His company provided funding for the nurseries, but contracted with Haitians to run them. The nurseries sell disease-resistant coffee varieties to local producers, and if the producers don’t have money to purchase trees, they can pay out of their first harvest. … He also began working with farmers to improve the quality of their coffees to gain access to the specialty market.”

In addition to Rabbit Hole Roasters, finalists for the Micro Roaster category included Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters and Mad Priest Coffee Roasters. Along with Cafe Kreyol, finalists for the Macro Category were Colectivo Coffee and Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company. Congratulations to all finalists for making incredible commitments to the industry, employees, and partners across the value stream and within local neighborhoods.