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• Where
Lexington, VA
• Founders
Terry and Melissa Scholl
• The Story
After the 1989 San Francisco earthquake left the Scholls homeless
and unemployed, they moved their family to tiny Lexington, Virginia,
a picturesque, historic town in the Shenandoah Valley. Homesick
for good coffee and in need of jobs, they bought a 7K Probat and
began selling fresh roasted beans to area restaurants. Two years
later, they opened a small shop; many days the line stretched
out the door and down the sidewalk. Business grew. The coffeehouse
moved to larger digs. The Probat was replaced by a 12K Diedrich.
Then a 24K was added, along with a sample roaster. In 2002, the
love of roasting won out over the demands of running a popular
coffeehouse, and the Scholls sold their retail operation. Today
Lexington Coffee Roasting Co. supplies fresh roasted beans to
coffeehouses and espresso bars throughout the East Coast, and
to mail-order customers nationwide.
• Locations
Wholesale and mail-order only
• Passions
Genuine small batch roasting and freshness.
Lexington Coffee Roasting Co. roasts only to order, dates each
bag, and ships each coffee the day it's roasted. Each batch is
roasted by skilled, experienced artisans, without the use of computerized
profiles. They refuse to roast a batch size larger than 50 lb.,
choosing instead to run multiple small batch roasters simultaneously
rather than lose quality control and artisanship to larger, computer-controlled
quantities. Their entire staff - from the president to the delivery
driver - cups coffee together every day, constantly monitoring
quality.
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Lexington believes in impeccable coffee, delivered with impeccable
service, in as sustainable a manner as possible. In that regard,
they focus on Organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance and Relationship
coffees and are business members of Coffee Kids and Cup for Education.
• Awards
Lexington Coffee Roasting Co. is the only roaster in the country
to place among the top 10 finalists of the annual Roasters Guild
of America Roasters' Choice Tasting Competition for 3 years in
a row. Their Rwanda Bufcafe earned 7th place in 2008; Ikubyu Blend
took 5th place in 2007; Guatemala La Tacita and Organic Ethiopia
Yirgacheffe Oromia and took 4th and 5th place, respectively, in
2006.
• Trivia
Lexington Coffee was a charter member of Cup for Education,
and
Melissa Scholl has served on the Board of Directors of Grounds
for Health.
• Web Site
www.lexingtoncoffee.com
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