6 Best Coffee Roasters in Asheville

If you have made a trip to Asheville and gone to one of our many local coffee shops you probably have had one of the local roasters on this list. I put this list together because you may have forgotten but remember the taste of what that groovy bag looks like. 

Because I don’t believe in the full ranking systems, these are some of the best coffee roasters in Asheville, North Carolina.

South Slope

South Slope coffee is owned by Luis and Cristina, a husband and wife duo who began their relationship through the love of coffee. They are both from Caracas, Venezuela and have lived in Miami before making their way to Asheville, North Carolina. They started their roastery in 2017 in a small shop in a plaza strip and their operations run small. They truly value the farmer/producer relationships and you can tell by the way the special farms they have chosen to roast. They value being able to trace the cup back to its origin to fully understand how that flavor was developed. If you get the chance I highly recommend you try their Mocha Khulani from Yemen that has a nice spice and citrus flavor.

Co-operative

Cooperative Coffee Roasters started roasting out of Asheville NC in 2019 and has quickly become the talk of the town within its first few months. Matt McDaniel has a long history working in specialty coffee which started in Atlanta, evolved during his time in Durham, and finally here in Asheville, North Carolina. With a team of three Matt and Katie are establishing and creating high standards in the industry by acting responsibly in a healthy supply chain. We pay farmers profitable wages for their coffees. We roast these coffees with skilled attention given to each specific origin, variety, and processing. We give our customers broad and diverse choices in the lots we select and in the roasting style of these offerings. We believe that coffee is at its best when it’s sweet, bright, and clean.Their work is to connect people to delicious and sustainable coffees by taking in the broader context of holistic sustainability, guiding the choices we make when sourcing and approaching the roast profile of our coffees. Recommend trying their bright and balanced Levity, it’s a nice blend from Guatemala, Colombian, and Ethiopia.

Matt owner of Cooperative Coffee

Penny Cup

PennyCup Coffee has established itself as a staple of the Asheville coffee scene, and can be seen served in many local restaurants around town making it the perfect house coffee. PennyCup roasts its own coffee at its location in the River Arts District. In the past couple years, PennyCup added a downtown location in the historic YMI building and an especially family-friendly east side location in the Haw Creek neighborhood. They source some of the finest, sustainably grown, green coffee then roast it to their exacting standards all in an effort to create an amazing cup of coffee.

MountainAir Roasting

Mountain Air Roasting is a micro-roaster of specialty coffees, It’s owned and single-handedly operated by Marshall Hance. He sources coffees from East Africa and the Americas that can be generally characterized as bright, clean, and sweet. These coffees are the literal fruit of careful farming, picking, and processing practices. Coffee is brightest, cleanest, and sweetest while still fresh crop, and so has a limited time window of excellence. He roast these special coffees in such a way to maximize ripe fruit-like qualities in the cup. Black Balsam is the perfect everyday coffee with tasting notes of cherry, toffee, caramel.

Summit

They’ve been in the café business since 1998, with their first store remaining in the same 19th century building in Davidson, North Carolina. It is known as Basecamp, and it provides the physical roots of Summit’s story that is spreading across the state.  They opened the roastery in 2015 in Cornelius and now their newest location is now in Chapel Hill, NC. Even though they don’t roast at their location in Asheville, when it opened in 2017 it quickly became a popular hangout spot because of its location having high-ceilings and lots of natural light. It's located in The River Arts District's "The Foundation" which is a group of buildings covered in colorful street art and murals. The CEO and owner Brian Helfrich won the 2020 Charleston Coffee Cup proving how spectacular their coffee can be. This is no surprise because they make trips around the world every few months to find and revisit coffee producers, work with the same farmers and cooperatives year after year Summit Coffee has provided us with quality coffee. 

High Noon

High Noon is a woman-owned startup that specializes in single origins as well as curated blends. High Noon coffee is available at several restaurants and shops around Asheville as well as directly from the roastery. The owner describes roasting as the marriage of machinery and art that drew her into that step of the coffee industry.“Every time I fire up the roaster I feel a sense of excitement, there are so many variables, endless goals, a world of possibilities ahead of me”. High Noon focuses on small batch roasting and collaboration. Staying small allows room for controlled sourcing, regional variety, and most importantly creativity.