Circadian Coffee Is Keeping It Simple (And Delicious)
Circadian Coffee’s co-owner Kelsey Speigner.
Coffee culture has gotten so complex that ordering a basic cup—black, no sugar—seems retro. Or worse, inadequate. If it’s not a medium-body, light-roast, low-acid cup of single-origin with floral notes, did you even drink coffee? Well, yes. And Kelsey Speigner, co-owner of local roaster Circadian Coffee, is here to remind you that you’re the boss of your venti cup. “I don’t like dictating how people drink their coffee,” she says.
Maryland native Speigner and her Fort Wayne–born business partner, Adam Datema, opened Circadian with the goal of simplifying the coffee experience. They learned the ropes on the East Coast, where they saw roasters prioritize style over substance. “On the coasts it’s all about being first in coffee. It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be first,” Speigner says. In the Midwest, they saw an opportunity to cater to customers who didn’t want coffee to be so fussy. “I’d say 80 percent of coffee drinkers just need coffee in the morning,” she says. “They’re what I call functional drinkers. They want something that tastes good and gets the job done. We’re gearing our roasting toward those people.”
Affordability is also central to Circadian’s model, with a line of light-, medium-, and dark-roast coffees starting at $14 per bag, and the company has a philanthropy program that donates $1 from every bag sold of its Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse coffee blends to local charities.
