The 2024 Sacramento Coffee Lover’s Guide

Coffee beans being roasted at Old Soul Co.’s midtown location

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To say that Sacramento’s coffee scene is, well, hot right now is as understated as the subtle notes of dark honey in Temple’s new ode to the Sacramento Kings. So we sipped and savored our way through the highly quaffable offerings from dozens of regional roasters to bring you our ultimate guide to local coffee. But enough teasing. Light the beans!

ROAST MASTERS 2024

By Hillary Louise Johnson and Stu VanAirsdale

18 Grams Coffee Roasters

Elk Grove was a specialty coffee desert before Justine Lee and Danny Chuong opened 18 Grams in 2017. Still in their 20s and entirely self-taught in the coffee business (Chuong learned espresso-making in his kitchen and coffee-roasting in his garage), the couple found almost immediate success by offering not just cafe standards like lattes and cappuccinos, but also Asian classics like their signature Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and their iced ube latte with ube jam and floated espresso shots. 18 Grams—which opened its Sacramento roastery at the Howe ’Bout Arden center in 2020—is the rare regional roaster that imports and roasts its own beans from Vietnam, aiming to smooth out the burnt, bitter, milky concoction they grew accustomed to, patronizing cafes on Stockton Boulevard. Other unique beverages include the 1987, a hazelnut-flavored iced coffee topped with house-made sea salt cream and dusted with a Mexican chocolate—which Lee and Choung say will get a boozy adaptation in June, when 18 Grams plans to launch its spinoff bar and restaurant, Forever, at 18th and S streets in midtown. 18gramscoffeeroasters.com

18 Grams co-owner Justine Lee works the grinder at the roaster’s Elk Grove cafe.

Anchor & Tree Coffee Roasting

This LGBTQ-owned coffee roastery launched in December 2022, with its founder Donovan Albert getting started in a 100-square-foot space lent to him by his peers at Seasons Coffee. (“I was the only gay person to put himself back into a closet to start a business,” Albert quips.) Wholly self-taught, Albert is Sacramento’s sole roaster to use a fully electric Bellwether Coffee machine, which boasts zero gas emissions and whose touch-screen technology allows Albert to provide “Roast Your Own” sessions to curious connoisseurs. On Jan. 1, Albert opened his new midtown coffee collective on 16th Street, another singular offering that hosts a cart from the mighty espresso gurus at Burnside Coffee and sells jars of small-batch beans from area micro roasters like Navigo, Promesa, Resilience and Black Sails. anchorandtreecoffee.com

Anchor & Tree proprietor Donovan Albert stands next to his all-electric Bellwether coffee roaster, which produces no gas emissions.

Black Coffee Roastery

Dante Williams’ initial exposure to coffee came while growing up in Sacramento’s Marina Vista housing project, where dreary cups of Folgers were all he knew. Then, years after Williams escaped gang violence to become a youth counselor, a friend invited him to Temple Coffee in Arden-Arcade. Tasting the difference in specialty coffee propelled him onto a self-taught journey that culminated in 2020 with the launch of his home-based Black Coffee Roastery. Pursuing flavorful coffee blends and single-origin stunners (like the Guatemalan beans used for his cold brews, and medium and dark espresso roasts) with a focus he characterizes as “obsessive,” Williams has locked in clients like the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, which offers Black Coffee drinks at Vines Cafe and for in-room orders. His coffee has also been served at events hosted by Gov. Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Newsom. The bustling Black Coffee Roastery pop-up attracts customers at Saturday’s Midtown Farmers Market, and even Williams’ coffee-free drinks are acclaimed: His Activated Black Matcha, with its dark charcoal infusion, won Best Matcha at the 2023 Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge. blkcoffeeroastery.com

Dante Williams left a career as a youth counselor to found Black Coffee Roastery, which attracts lines of caffeine fiends at the weekly Midtown Farmers Market.

Bridge Coffee Co.

Although he received his paramedic training at Stanford, Yuba County resident Timothy Styczynski says his real education took place as a wide-eyed 19-year-old listening to fellow first responders swap stories at shift changes over cups of strong, steamy coffee. The power of the brew to connect people stuck with him, so in 2015, after 25 years as an ambulance and flight EMT, Styczynski opened Bridge Coffee Co. in Marysville. The name represents not just the bridge between people, but between farmers and coffee drinkers—“from the crop to the cup,” he says. Now, while Bridge roasts its beans inside a historic firehouse in Marysville, it also operates two cafes in Yuba City. And last year, he became head roaster for UC Davis’ Coffee Center while Bridge donated $50,000 toward its new building . Still, he insists, he is just a micro roaster. Maybe so, but one that’s making a big difference in our region for generations to come. bridgecoffeeco.com

Camellia’s thriving R Street corridor cafe is a hub for specialty coffee enthusiasts.

Camellia Coffee Roasters

This R Street roastery’s motto is “coffee with character,” and it shows—picture a cafe run by the lovably eccentric cast of Freaks and Geeks  all grown up. Roaster Ryan Harden (formerly of Old Soul) and business partner Rob Watson opened their wholesale roastery named after the official city flower of Sacramento in 2016, eventually supplying restaurants, bars and cafes with roasts like Comfort Zone, a quintessential breakfast blend Twin Peaks’ Agent Cooper would deem “a damn fine cup of coffee.” But kids this cool need a clubhouse, so when a stall opened up in the WAL Public Market in 2018, they jumped on it, then jumped again in 2022, to a standalone space one block away vacated by a national chain that rhymes with Charbucks, quickly becoming a lively home away from home for the barista set. Camellia’s annual latte art contest Pourgy draws participants from Temple, Old Soul and Scorpio among others, but coffee snobs need not apply—because here everyone gets a seat at the cool kids’ table. camelliacoffeeroasters.com

Camellia Coffee’s director of coffee and roasting Camilla Yuan (left) and production roaster Ashley Stockwell form a bean dream team with co-owner Ryan Harden, who himself learned the craft at Old Soul Co.

Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters

Last year marked a milestone for Chocolate Fish, whose founders Edie and Andy Baker sold the business and returned to Andy’s native New Zealand. (Fun fact: The piscine candy namesake is a real Kiwi confection on sale at the roaster’s cafes in East Sacramento, Land Park and Folsom.) Aside from new owners Ali Syed and Asif Alvi, everything else remains the same—for now—at Chocolate Fish, which launched as a downtown cafe in 2008 before expanding into roasting in 2011. The Folsom Boulevard roastery remains a leader in education for coffee consumers, with regular public classes in everything from tasting to latte art, with a larger roasting and training facility in the works. Meanwhile, the specialty coffee stalwart has begun to roll out limited-quantity offerings, like a sweet, bright El Salvador Pacamara (think of the “Pacamara” as a variety of coffee the way “Pink Lady” is a variety of apple) that is available now at Chocolate Fish cafes while supplies last. chocolatefishcoffee.com

Coffee Works

Back in 1982—before specialty coffee roasting was a glint in a hipster’s eye, and even before Sacramento’s hometown titans Java City (purchased by the Irish conglomerate behind Bewley’s in 2000) exploded on the international coffee scene—Coffee Works became the first independent roaster to call the city home. Now in its fifth decade on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento, the cafe helped inaugurate the “second-wave” coffee movement in town, welcoming espressos, cappuccinos and lattes to the city. The vibe—and the coffee—draws a multigenerational crowd of regulars for Coffee Works’ daily brew, often paired with one of their myriad house-made scones. (The mixed berry never disappoints.) No visit is complete without a sip of Coffee Works’ signature dark-roasted Jump Start blend, an eye-opening menu mainstay for more than 20 years. coffeeworks.com

Gallery Coffee Roasters

Starting out using a popcorn popper, Woodland native Ben Canevari and his dad, Marc, experimented with roasting their own coffee at home. Then three years ago, Ben—a freelance adventure photographer who worked coffee-related day jobs everywhere from Dutch Bros. in his hometown to Old Soul in midtown Sacramento—decided the perfect way to create an art gallery space for his photography was to open a little coffeehouse and roastery in Woodland’s charming, increasingly bustling downtown. Marc, an engineer and carpenter, helped build out the blonde wood-and-brick space, a clean, warm, sun-filled haven filled with images from Ben’s trips to off-grid locales, from Northern California’s Lost Coast to the French Alps, on behalf of outdoor brands like Clif Bar and AllTrails. Ben’s passion is the espresso drink (no pour-overs here), and the beans sourced for his signature Golden Jack Espresso Blend vary by season but always include vanilla, berry and floral notes for a light touch that’s like a shot of golden hour in a cup. gallerycoffeeroasters.com

Gallery Coffee, part of Woodland’s burgeoning downtown scene, showcases owner Ben Canevari’s adventure photography (Photo by Ben Canevari, Courtesy of Gallery Coffee Roasters)

Genesis Coffee Roasters

Three years ago, Alex Parker quit her teaching job in El Dorado County, bought a small 1-kilo countertop coffee roaster, and started watching YouTube how-tos in between homeschooling sessions for her two young children. The name Genesis is a nod to her Christian faith, expressed with a wink: “In the beginning there was coffee, and it was good,” her tagline reads. Parker started selling roasted coffee at the Placerville Main Street Farmers’ Market and eventually to local cafes like Double Shot Coffee Bar in El Dorado Hills. Then earlier this year, she upgraded to a 15-kilo model and moved into a commercial space in Shingle Springs. Parker sources beans from women-owned farms in Colombia and Mexico, and she offers schools, sports teams and nonprofits the opportunity to sell Genesis Coffee as a fundraiser, à la Girl Scout Cookies. To which we say, why not double-dip? The Vienna-roasted Grizzly blend (with a portion of proceeds benefiting survivors of the Caldor Fire) is perfect for dunking a Do-si-do. gencoffeeroasters.com

Kingdom Coffee Roasters

When Ty Manukyan left his job in finance to follow his passion by co-launching Kingdom Coffee Roasters in Folsom in June 2017, he envisioned attracting pour-over purists who previously had to travel to midtown for their specialty coffee fix. But it wasn’t until a few months later, when he and his then-business partner Will Rentfrow crafted a house-made vanilla syrup one slow day and touted the new latte flavor on Instagram, that the neighborhood flocked to this chic, cozy spot with dramatic black walls and a twinkle-light ceiling like the night sky over the desert. The place has been hopping ever since, with Manukyan embracing his new role as a self-described “mad scientist” brewing up new latte concoctions to please a loyal clientele (while purists can still get a pour-over fit for a king). In warm weather, the specialty slushy machine churns out destination-worthy, oat-milk-based delights like a horchata latte, or the sought-after all-time customer favorite, the creamsicle latte—the flavors of orange and coffee really pop together. Sip one while strolling the shores of neighboring Lake Natoma, and the world is your kingdom. kingdomcoffeeroasters.com

Mast Coffee

Mast officially started in 2012, but really got brewing a year later when co-founders Stephen Mentze and Michael Sanchez drove from Roseville to Idaho to buy a tabletop commercial coffee roaster they found online. In the dozen years since, the company has established itself as one of Sacramento’s most formidable coffee players, with a booming cafe near Broadway and 17th Street and a midtown roastery at 28th and O streets that they acquired in late 2022 from the defunct Pivot Coffee. The Sacramento-born Sanchez runs the ship solo these days (Mentze departed to his native Arkansas last year), upholding long-standing relationships with family coffee farms in countries like Nicaragua and Guatemala while also perfecting Mast’s flagship Suite 7 espresso blend and expanding creative ventures like Mast’s fittingly named “Pretty Great” brand of specialty instant coffee. (Try the Brazil, with its smooth, chocolatey finish.) This summer, look for a full renovation at Mast’s midtown location, featuring what Sanchez envisions as a “brighter, lighter, softer” cafe and spacious patio. mastcoffeeco.com

Milka Coffee Roasters

A decade ago, Samir Benouar was living in New York City, studying poetry by day, working in bars by night, and striving for a career in publishing. But somehow he wound up back in his hometown of Sacramento, roasting some of its best coffee for his dynamite duo of downtown cafes. Benouar’s life and career arc is as unique as his flagship cafe in an 1861 Queen Anne Victorian on G Street, where old sun-soaked sitting rooms fill up with folks trying out extraordinary coffees from Milka’s longtime partner farm in Rwanda, its espresso-bean growers in Brazil and Colombia, and other single-origin sources around the world. (True to its international spirit, Milka takes its name from Benouar’s great-grandmother, who immigrated from Croatia in the 1920s.) A self-described “science nerd,” Benouar taught himself the ins and outs of roasting, ultimately focusing on the sweetness in medium-roast coffee. Milka’s second location, a coffee counter at the buzzing Warehouse Artist Lofts, opened last fall. Talk about poetic justice. milkacoffee.com

The Mill

Nick and Ilah Rose Minton have come a long way in the 12 years since they lugged gallons of milk, water and gasoline to their generator-powered coffee stand at the Midtown Farmers Market. The husband-and-wife team’s first brick-and-mortar cafe on I Street celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, while Nick now roasts coffee from Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico and other single-origin sources on his custom-built machine in The Mill’s resplendent training and roasting facility on Elvas Avenue. The couple’s painstaking work extends to house-made syrups for coffee drinks like their Wildwood Flower Latte—a springtime favorite whose flavors Ilah Rose derives from a blend of tree barks, wildflowers and herbs—and sparkling water infused with bergamot, for serving with The Mill’s Bouquet Blend espresso. (Though Nick says customers are welcome to ask for a glass on its own.) Don’t sleep on The Mill’s expansive tea selection, too, if that’s more your cup. themillsacramento.com

Nick and Ilah Rose Minton, the husband-and-wife duo behind the Mill, started out selling coffee by the cup at the Midtown Farmers Market over a decade ago.

Moonraker Coffee Roasters

Coffee and beer are a match made in heaven—and in the Sierra foothills. In January, Auburn-based Moonraker Brewing Co. opened an ultra-chic farmhouse-modern coffee bar inside Moonraker Millhouse, its sprawling, indoor-outdoor restaurant and beer hall in Cameron Park. When the brewery decided to bring the coffee roasting in-house two years ago, packaging manager Tyler Wingo volunteered to learn the roasting ropes, and ever since has been crafting unique java that forms the backbone of popular suds like the Foam Walker nitro beer, which is now made with Moonraker’s Ethiopian and Mexican coffee blend, along with a touch of vanilla. Time your visit to this rural oasis just right and you can be sipping a pour-over of a blend at the coffee bar just before noon, and tippling a pint of its inventive beer interpretation just after. Now that’s our kind of two-fisted drinking. moonrakerbrewing.com

Naked Coffee

The indisputable O.G. of Sacamento’s specialty coffee scene, Naked Coffee’s alums have founded and/or led cafes from Temple to Old Soul. But arguably its most significant relationship over the years may have been with a customer named Fred Khasigian, who followed his regular workouts with a stop by Naked, at 15th and Q streets, for a Vietnamese coffee. When Naked founder Chris Pendarvis was ready to exit the business in 2021, the Khasigian family was ready to take more than a post-exercise treat off Pendarvis’ hands. Under the Khasigians’ new ownership, Fred’s sons Kirk and Kyle oversee operations, with Naked’s signature standards like the Aztec Mocha (a spicy honey-cayenne creation) and Keith Richards (a caffeine bomb of espresso mixed with Shasta Cola) offered alongside new seasonal creations like a whiskey barrel-aged coffee served up this year for St. Patrick’s Day and a wine barrel-aged coffee debuting this summer. The family, which bought and reimagined the beloved Doughbot doughnut brand in 2021, also offers a decidedly creative mix of vegan and non-vegan doughnuts on weekends. With the recent opening of a Curtis Park outpost, look for Naked to offer a side of growth with its long, illustrious history. nakedcoffee.net

Naked Coffee co-owner Kirk Khasigian at the local specialty coffee pioneer’s Broadway roastery

Old Soul Co.

When they opened as a wholesale operation in a midtown alley in 2006, roaster Jason Griest and baker Tim Jordan called their coffee company Old Soul in honor of the immigrant artisans who brought their trades to America. With no AC, the pair had to leave the building’s roll-up door open, and the roasty aromas drew passersby, who insisted that they open a cafe. Today they still roast in the alley—but for four thriving cafes. Griest is so exacting that he has accepted and tutored only five apprentice roasters in 18 years, two of whom have now opened their own roasteries—Lucky Rodrigues with Insight (now Sun & Soil) and Ryan Harden with Camellia. Competition? Nah. “We’re all friends,” Griest says, beaming like a proud papa. Meanwhile, Old Soul is part of a nonprofit venture that’s working in Honduras to create supply chain transparency, ensuring growers’ profit share is linked to profits downstream—the project was a finalist for a 2024 Sustainability Award from the Specialty Coffee Association. Now that’s a mission we can raise a mug to. oldsoulco.com

Hillary Mugasitsi, assistant director of coffee at Old Soul Co., prepares for a cupping at the operation’s alley roastery.

Pachamama Coffee Farmers

Roughly two decades ago, when 25,000 organic coffee farmers in Peru, Nicaragua and Guatemala sought to establish a market for their product in the United States, they looked to a unique solution: A cooperatively owned organization that would import, roast and sell coffee direct to California consumers. They settled on a hub right here in Sacramento, from which Pachamama sold its first beans to grocery stores and food co-ops in 2006. Today, Pachamama comprises more than 400,000 farmers (from Mexico to Ethiopia) and five cafes (from Placerville to Davis). The latter are renowned for seasonal specialties such as this spring’s olive oil latte—which is made with the eponymous extra-virgin ingredient sourced from the Capay Valley-based Pasture 42—while home brewers can grab a bag of freshly roasted bliss, like the bold, subtly sweet Sactown blend featuring beans harvested by Pachamama’s partners in the Americas and Ethiopia. pachamamacoffee.com

Kyla Whitley, lead roaster at Pachamama, executes a perfect pour-over.

Remedy Supply Co.

On a sunny Sunday, expect a line out the door at The Pour Choice, the rambling, multitiered coffee shop in Old Town Auburn—but don’t let the wordplay in the cafe’s name fool you: It’s worth the wait for a cup of Remedy Supply Co.’s First Light Blend, with notes of pear, spiced cider and dark chocolate. Auburn natives Melinda and Jordan Minyard opened The Pour Choice shop as a showcase for craft beverages, including micro-roasted specialty coffee, in 2017, and then launched their roastery, Remedy, in 2020 to directly source coffees at fair prices from global growers with a similar small-town, small-batch ethos. Remedy’s sachets of instant coffee—available both on its website and at the cafe—give their outdoorsy customer base a backpack-ready boost: The just-add-water version of First Light is exactly what we want to stir into our Sierra cups on the Tahoe Rim Trail this summer, no waiting necessary. remedysupplyco.com

Seasons Coffee

One of Sacramento’s best-kept coffee secrets hides in midtown behind a pair of heavy, unmarked teal doors. There, inside the Spanish Revival-inspired building that once housed the Fremont School (and which today hosts the E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts), Seasons Coffee’s peach cottagecore cafe serves up shots of this roaster’s chocolatey espresso and sunny, single-origin offerings. (One recent visit yielded a hard-to-find Panamanian coffee featured as Seasons’ ever-changing house roast, the type of modest cosmic generosity that feels like parking at a meter with time remaining.) Seasons commenced roasting in 2015, with owner Greg Cotta shipping beans to subscribers and eventually delivering growlers of Seasons’ smooth, trademark “Bold Crew” cold brew to customers around Sacramento, milkman-style. Today, patrons pick up their jugs of joe at the cafe, which opened two years ago in the former Fremont School teacher’s lounge. seasonscoffeeroasters.com

Seasons’ cafe—located inside a midtown arts complex that also houses the Sacramento Ballet studios—features charming cottagecore décor that bucks the trend toward edgy industrial chic. But make no mistake: owner Greg Cotta’s sophisticated roast profiles are on pointe. (Photo by Kaely Demarest, Courtesy of Seasons Coffee)

Sociology Coffee Bar and Roaster

“Where the vibes never die” might sound like an ironic motto for a coffee roaster based in an upscale strip mall in Old Town Folsom. But Sociology Coffee Bar, which opened its doors in 2020, lives up to its claim, and then some. Look for the big decal of “Sproey,” Sociology’s tattoo-ready, cartoon coffee cup mascot (its name plays on “espresso”) to greet you at the door, behind which music throbs and a “propagation wall” of young plants lures patrons to take one or “leaf one.” In addition to bean blends like Mortal Fools (an inspired, unlikely flavor combo matching a fruit-forward Ethiopian and nutty Peruvian coffees), head roaster Tyler White and his team whip up a menu of specialty mocktails like the Red Riding Hood Rat, made with distilled coffee, coconut water, house-made blueberry syrup, sesame oil, lime juice and bitters, and coconut flakes. Pair your coffee with one of Sociology’s toothsome baked treats, like the house-made strawberry Pop Tart or the spongy almond orange cake with citrus vibes to spare. sociologycoffeebar.com

Sociology Coffee Bar’s “Sproman Bates,” a vanilla mocha topped with toasted marshmallows (Photo by Kyle Stillman, Courtesy of Sociology Coffee Bar and Roaster.)

Sun & Soil Health Company
(formerly Insight Coffee Roasters)

When local coffee industry veteran Lucky Rodrigues joined forces with Chris Ryan and a group of fellow coffee lovers to start Insight Coffee Roasters in 2011, their light roasts were an instant hit, and it wasn’t long before the growing business had five bustling cafes dotted around the region. But fast-forward a decade, and the years of experience had invited some profound soul-searching about what “success” looks like. So one of the biggest coffee brands in Sacramento decided to pivot out of retail to geek out on all things coffee behind the scenes, with a wellness twist. In 2022, Insight merged with the West Sacramento-based Sun & Soil Juice Company (which Ryan also co-founded), and earlier this year, relaunched as the Sun & Soil Health Company, sharing commercial kitchen and roastery space while powering up the Sun & Soil cafes around town with better-for-you coffee beverages to pair with smoothies and açai bowls. For example, they’re currently experimenting with mineral-rich sweetener formulas made with maple syrup and honey—because success this time around looks a lot like a nutrient-dense latte. sunandsoil.health

Temple Coffee Roasters

Temple Coffee wasn’t the first specialty roaster and cafe on the scene in Sacramento; indeed, its founder, Sean Kohmescher, cut his teeth 20 years ago at Naked Coffee. And reasonable folks can debate whether or not Temple is the best amid a crowded coffee market that has seen the number of area roasters more than double over the last decade. But there’s no denying Temple’s status today as the region’s dominant specialty coffee player. With eight bustling cafes from Folsom to Davis, a 44,000-square foot roastery (outputting roughly 7,000 pounds of coffee weekly, compared with 400 pounds at some smaller roasters), coffee subscribers as far away as Alaska and Hawaii, and new blends like the Kings-themed “The Beam” (with tasting notes of limeade, raspberry and honeysuckle), this hometown java giant is practically synonymous with Sacramento coffee. templecoffee.com

Temple Coffee’s roastery manager Ben Miller conducts a cupping at the eight-cafe chain’s warehouse-sized roastery.

Terranova Coffee Roasting

As a lieutenant with the Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Office, Brian Amos used his passion for specialty coffee to build camaraderie in the most unlikely places, encouraging his peers to open up over friendly pour-overs and founding an education program to train incarcerated women for careers as baristas. Having retired from law enforcement in 2021, Amos bought the long-established Arden-Arcade wholesale roaster Terranova last November with his wife, Julie, as a passion project. Most of the beans Amos roasts are for private label brands, but you can buy Terranova Coffee online, or better yet by poking your head through the alley-facing roastery’s open door (ask for a tour). And if you’re looking for street cred, know that Terranova roasts the coffee that supplies many of the city’s Ethiopian markets—as in, this is what folks from the historic cradle of coffee drink. terranovacoffeeroasting.com

Valiant Coffee Roasters

Valiant co-founder Erik Werner has been a coffee devotee for most of his life: He recalls the excitement of growing up across the street from the long-gone Java City cafe at 18th Street and Capitol Avenue and working in specialty coffee—when the phrase was just starting to make the rounds—at the erstwhile Wild Chicken cafe in Loomis. In 2014, with former business partner Luke Noland, Werner launched this Auburn-based roastery. A decade later, Valiant’s new facility in North Auburn puts out irresistible roasts like its Slingshot espresso blend (also great as a straight everyday coffee) and an extraordinary offering from Zambia with tasting notes of pear and lime. Now Werner has fans of his own: Auburn chefs Eric Alexander and Courtney McDonald (who once gave Werner his first kitchen job out of culinary school) serve up Valiant Coffee at their acclaimed Restaurant Josephine, and Noland brews Valiant at his Fourscore Coffee House in Roseville. Very cool beans, indeed. valiantcoffee.com

World Traveler Coffee Roasters

A little more than five years after opening its first cafe and roastery in Roseville, this upstart Placer County juggernaut has expanded into El Dorado County and even to a high-visibility Downtown Commons cafe that opened last December in the shadow of the Golden 1 Center. The growth is no accident, with head roaster Jaime Bou delivering marvels of flavor like the Spring Blend (a blend of Ethiopian coffees whose spring 2023 debut proved so popular that it’s now available year-round) and a single-origin Kenyan coffee that exquisitely balances the fruit acidity and sweetness common in African coffees. World Traveler’s in-house baked goods have their own singular appeal, from trompe l’oeil apple mousse cakes (which uncannily resemble real, glossy green apples) to raspberry éclairs topped with delicate sugar rosebuds. The caffeinated march of progress continues this summer, with new locations planned in Granite Bay and the Galleria in Roseville—no passport necessary. worldtravelercoffee.com

Read on to learn more about what makes specialty joe so special, different coffee classes in the area, and the unique local ways you can satisfy your craving for fresh-roasted bliss.

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