THEIR STORY IS OUR STORY
We sound braggy but feel lucky saying that Roast Rider is the only craft coffee café in Virginia to represent Equator, George Howell and Amavida, early B Corps using business as a force for good. We like to think they are as picky about their wholesale partners as we are about our roasters.
ONYX COFFEE LAB
Quality. Truth. Accountability.
“We journey to find
the finest and most unique coffees in the world. Our producing partners innovate and work hard to grow some of the most amazing coffees, and we want their name to be listed and recognized.”
ONYX coffee lab is right in step with our other roasting partners when it comes to transparency, social accountability and best quality for all.
What really got Wayne hooked was their social presence, and we’re not talking about their cinematic social media. In true LAB form, ONYX is in constant pursuit of discovery.
They are exceptionally generous and passionate about sharing knowledge on different platforms with café partners like us and with the public.
Nothing but the Best
“George Howell Coffee’s mission is to seek out the best coffees on Earth. We buy the finest regional and single farm-sourced coffees for coffee lovers who share in our quest for the ultimate cup!”
TRUE STORY:
“SIR GEORGE”
What if you owned a coffee shop and you really believed that your coffee roaster was knighted by the Queen of England? Wouldn’t you shout it from the rooftops and tell all your customers? That’s what Wayne, Roast Rider's owner, did. No fact checking. He suspended ALL disbelief.
The funny thing is Wayne is a methodical, no BS kind of guy. So nobody thought to question him. The good news is his wife Lisa is an old-school journalist. After overhearing him tell this tale again and again, she started to get a funny feeling that it was either urban myth, or pure delusion on Wayne’s part.
She asked Wayne where he heard this. She Googled it and found nothing. That's when she went right to the source and found out that George was extremely flattered, but not knighted!!
Wayne has since conceded that his obsession with George’s impact on the specialty coffee industry might have clouded his judgment. But, in Wayne’s eyes, George Howell will always be Sir George, and her royal majesty just needed to keep up!
AMAVIDA
Micro-roaster of the Year 2018 by Roast Magazine
Amavida was conceived to lift coffee communities by pioneering a collective impact approach. Founder, Dan Bailey is a global citizen and patient visionary who raises the coffee roasting bar, while addressing multiple issues facing producers-- from health care and education, to clean water and gender equity.
“To Make the World Better”
“That’s why, at Amavida, we’re not satisfied being just another Fair Trade coffee roaster. We’re energized by pushing the limits of what it means to be an ethical and sustainable coffee company, because we believe the pursuit of exceptional coffee is one of the most powerful ways to create positive change—in both coffee producing countries, and at home.”
Single Vision
“Since 1995, we’ve believed that a better coffee could create a better world”
- Helen Russell, Co-Founder & Executive Chair
You never forget your first love or your first Roaster. For us that would be Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, co-founders of Equator. Helen has always guided us with her championista's heart and head. Year in and year out, Helen and Brooke ignite change as a trailblazing national brand that nurtures initiatives in support of women, workers and coffee growing regions around the world.
Female-owned, impact-charged and social values-driven.
2016 Small Business Administration Business of the year
B Corporation Certification
ROAST RIDER: Why do you do it?
HELEN RUSSELL: To be the best, no. To be the best for the world. Yes!!