The Roastery
A 12-kilo Probat named Dorothy, four roasting mornings a week, and a sourcing philosophy you can read like a receipt.
Two people, one irritable vintage roaster.
Ember & Oak began in 2016 when Mara Okafor and Tom Reyes — a roaster and a green buyer who kept meeting at origin trips — got tired of coffees marketed with stories nobody could verify.
They rented a corner of a bakery on Ankeny Street, bought Dorothy (a 1987 Probat that has broken down exactly twice and forgiven them both times), and made a rule: publish what we pay, name who we buy from, roast nothing we can’t explain.
What we paid last season
| Origin | FOB price paid | Fair Trade minimum | Premium above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethiopia (Gedeo) | $4.85 / lb | $1.85 / lb | +162% |
| Colombia (Huila) | $3.90 / lb | $1.85 / lb | +111% |
| Guatemala (Antigua) | $3.75 / lb | $1.85 / lb | +103% |
| Brazil (Espírito Santo) | $3.40 / lb | $1.85 / lb | +84% |
| Sumatra (Aceh) | $3.60 / lb | $1.85 / lb | +95% |
Audited annually by Sustainable Harvest. The full ledger, farm by farm, is printed and available at the counter.
From green bag to brown bag
Cupping
Every arrival is cupped blind — three samples, coded bags, no labels. If it doesn’t beat last season’s lot, we don’t buy it again, whatever the relationship.
Profile roasting
Each coffee has a written roast profile, adjusted per batch humidity. Dorothy is logged manually: charge temp, turning point, first crack, drop.
Resting
Nothing leaves the roastery until day four post-roast — long enough to de-gas, short enough to stay inside our seven-day freshness rule.
Bagging by hand
Weighed to the gram, stamped with roast date and farm name, sealed. The person who bagged your coffee initials the label.
“Transparency is not a marketing word if you actually print the numbers.”— Tom Reyes, Green Buyer
Four people, one drum
Mara Okafor Head Roaster & Co-founder
Roasts every batch on Dorothy and still cups at 7:15 sharp. Previously at a large Seattle roaster, where she learned exactly what she did not want.
Tom Reyes Green Buyer & Co-founder
Spends a third of the year at origin. Keeps the price ledger and answers the sourcing emails — personally, at length.
June Akana Wholesale & Training
Runs barista training for our partner cafes and can diagnose a bad shot from across the room. Firm but fair on dial-in.
Deshawn Cole Cafe & Everything Else
Runs the bar, the bakery relationship, the playlist, and the unofficial rule that regulars never wait more than four minutes.