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This morning I’m drinking our Volkopi Lintong coffee, planning the day, and doing some research on a new Rwandan lot which just dropped in the Roast Works. This is the first Rwandan coffee that I have personally roasted, and the green coffee on from this lot is a beauty; low defect count, even screen size, and uniform color.
This coffee comes from the Nyamasheke district of the Western Province in Rwanda. We’re calling it Kivu Kanzu, Kanzu being the washing station and Kivu from Lake Kivu which is near the washing station. Kivu is also in reference to the Kivu Arabica Coffee Company, which has a huge hand in producing this coffee. Farmers in this area began to struggle to afford milling and processing around 2010. Farms in this area are very small often have only 1000-8000 coffee plants. Each plant on average produces about a pound to a pound and a half of green coffee in a production year, and farms of this size have a significant difficulty financing operations outside of the harvest season. The Kivu Arabica Coffee Company provided this financing, which let the farmers stop worrying and get back to farming. And it shows in the fact these farmers are now producing award winning coffees.
As a roaster it's easy to have this romantic idea of being able to go to a little farm to make a big difference, fly back with a pallet of coffee, and roast it while telling stories of how I helped mill the beans and eat a cherry off a tree. While I am looking forward to knocking that off my bucket list someday, I’m equally excited to work with importers and mills which contribute to a larger framework of sustainable practices around growing quality coffee and find coffees that are more beautiful that you can imagine.
Now back to the warmth the roaster.
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Corvus Coffee Roasters takes a direct, relationship-driven approach to sourcing and roasting. Founded in 2010 by Phil and Autumn Goodlaxson, the company is known for multi-year producer partnerships, a Farmer Focus Program, and strong internal training and benefits for staff. Corvus emphasizes storytelling, public engagement, and initiatives that support gender equity and inclusion across its operations.
For Goodlaxson, a smaller menu isn’t about exclusivity. He wants Corvus to feel approachable for anyone who walks in, whether they already follow specialty coffee closely or not. Winning over a customer who’s never paid attention to single-origin coffee is more meaningful to him than competing for the attention of those already immersed in the scene. By keeping the emphasis on quality, he hopes to spark curiosity that can grow over time.
what we’re most proud of is the way that we do business at origin, and how those values translate to how we do business here in the U.S. The transfer of this knowledge that only comes from knowing the farmers we work with and working with them in person, to our partners is our key differentiator.
