Our Story
We are Windmill Coffee Roasters. We roast coffee. Seems pretty straight forward. We are a small team, just the three of us for now. We have a warehouse on the western edge of Ames, IA. This location is our home through the week, we do a little bit of everything under that roof. Machine repair, green storage, accounting, billing, design, packaging, roasting, eating lunch, listening to podcasts, watching tiny desk concerts, etc.
We drink a lot of coffee, it’s our job and we like it. Whether it is cupping coffee for quality assurance, purchasing decisions, or just for fun - we drink coffee.
Windmill is learning. Learning about the realities of the farmers we work with. We could say that we know it all, but we don’t and we don’t think anyone does. Right now is an interesting time in the coffee industry and we are doing our best to listen, to talk with our importers, to watch what our colleagues are doing, and to keep an open mind/heart. Think c-market pricing, sustainability, traceability, and transparency.
There is always something to learn and learning the nuts and bolts of our craft is near and dear to us. Whether taking roasting classes, participating in regional/national competitions, or heading to an espresso machine tech class we are honing our craft as best we can.
We are building relationships. We strive to be the best partner to our wholesale customers. Offering training, maintenance, equipment, supplies, menu consultation, opinions, and coffee. We are here for you.
Another relationship we are nurturing is with the coffee producers with whom we work. Building a strong, reliable, and consistent commitment to farmers is something we are serious about. We have a few now, that we have built through a varied history in coffee, but we want more. We want to share those stories with you, keep an eye open. We hope to work with the same farmers year in and year out. To do that we’ll also need strong, honest, and open lines of communication with importers. We are happy to say that we work with some really great companies. More importantly we work with some stellar people at these companies and we are sure that they will help us get to where we want to go.
Finally, we are just some people for Iowa. We try to be nice, work hard, be honest, and spend time with our people. We hope you do too.