Top Five Indy Coffee Roasters

Editor’s Note: These listings are not ranked. They reflect a collection of the best offerings in town.
 
1. Bee Coffee Roasters
201 S. Capitol Ave., Suite 110, 317-426-2504, beecoffeeroasters.com
With a “fruity favorite” (the berry-tinged El Eden, a single-origin Mexican coffee) and a new Ethiopian Kochere aged in mead barrels, Bee Coffee Roasters makes its teeny five-pound roaster the center of larger experimentation. Extremely small batches mean variety is constant—in origin and process.
 
 
 
2. Harvest Cafe Coffee Roasters
2225 E. 54th St., 317-585-9162, harvestcafecoffee.com
Slow-roasted in an infrared drum roaster, Harvest Cafe coffee is crafted with smoothness as a guiding principle and ends up on market shelves and in restaurant cups around town. Eleven years in, the boutique roaster produces an annual 25,000 pounds at its Keystone Avenue facility.
 
 
3. Julian Coffee Roasters
10830 Bennett Pkwy, Zionsville, 317-247-4208  juliancoffee.com
Cold-brewed and bourbon barrel–aged coffee pours from taps at Zionsville’s Julian Coffee Roasters. Take a mug or something from the espresso bar on a tour of the facility. It’s a mostly wholesale operation, but 12-ounce bags are on hand and for sale to curious visitors sold on what they sip.
 
 
4. Mile Square Coffee Roastery
12 E. Ray St., 317-296-8181,milesquarecoffee.com
Mile Square took its objective to recast coffee as a culinary experience to a new Stadium Village facility in October 2013. Its lineup of three or four single-origin roasts steers clear of dark and oily—and of any flavor that didn’t start in the bean.
 
 
 
5. Hubbard & Cravens
4930 N. Pennsylvania St., 317-251-5161; 6229 Carrollton Ave., 317-803-4155; 1701 N. Senate Ave., 317-962-9204, hubbardandcravens.com
For all of its 22 years, Indy’s stalwart coffee operation has been under the careful attention of just two roasters, whose annual 2.5 million pounds of production reach restaurants across the country. The owners’ frequent travels forge relationships with farmers and enable exotic finds like the full-bodied Bali Blue Moon Organic and the honey-processed Costa Rica Espiritu Santo.
 
 
Photos by Sarah Boyum or courtesy coffee roasters
This article appeared in the April 2014 issue.