Small Batch vs. Commercial Coffee: What's the Real Difference?

Understanding why batch size matters for your morning cup

"Small batch" gets thrown around a lot in coffee marketing. Like "artisan" or "craft" or "premium," it's become a buzzword that can mean everything or nothing.

But batch size actually does matter. Not because small is inherently better—it's not magic—but because it changes what's possible. The constraints of commercial-scale roasting create trade-offs. Understanding those trade-offs helps you make better coffee choices.

This is what we've learned from roasting small batches in Lombard, Illinois, and from drinking plenty of commercial coffee before that.

What "Small Batch" Actually Means

There's no official definition. No certification body determines what counts as "small batch" coffee.

In practice, small batch usually means:

• Roaster capacity: 1-30 pounds per batch (versus hundreds or thousands in commercial operations)
• Roast frequency: Multiple roasts daily rather than continuous production
• Human attention: A person watching, adjusting, deciding—not just monitoring automated systems

At Spiritus, we roast in 10-15 pound batches. That's small enough that each roast gets individual attention, large enough to maintain consistency.

Commercial roasters might run 500-pound batches continuously. Different game entirely.

The Freshness Gap

This is where small batch matters most: freshness.

How Commercial Coffee Works

Large roasters optimize for scale and distribution. They roast massive quantities, package them, and ship to warehouses, distributors, grocery stores, and fulfillment centers.

By the time that bag reaches your kitchen:

• It was roasted weeks or months ago
• It sat in multiple warehouses
• It traveled through distribution networks
• It waited on shelves for you to find it

The "best by" date might be a year out. But coffee peaks at 3-14 days after roasting. Everything after that is decline.

How Small Batch Works

Small roasters can operate differently. Without massive inventory to move, we can roast to order.

At Spiritus:

• Your order triggers a roast
• Coffee is roasted within 48 hours of shipping
• It arrives days from roast, not weeks or months
• Every bag has the roast date printed—no hiding behind "best by" dates

The freshness difference is real and detectable. You'll smell it when you open the bag. You'll taste it in the cup.

The Attention Difference

Roasting coffee is cooking. Like any cooking, attention affects outcome.

Commercial Roasting Attention

At scale, attention per batch decreases. The roaster manages systems, monitors dashboards, ensures consistency across massive output. The goal is repeatability—making the same coffee the same way, thousands of pounds at a time.

This isn't wrong. It's how you supply grocery stores and coffee shop chains. It's how you make affordable coffee available everywhere.

But it's different from craft roasting.

Small Batch Attention

A small-batch roaster can attend to each batch individually.

• Adjusting for the beans: Coffee from different origins, harvests, and lots behaves differently. Small batch allows adjustment.
• Responding to conditions: Humidity, temperature, and other factors affect roasting. Human attention catches what automation misses.
• Pursuing nuance: The difference between "good" and "exceptional" often lives in small decisions made mid-roast.

This doesn't mean small batch is automatically better. A skilled commercial roaster beats an amateur small-batch roaster every time. But given equal skill, small batch allows more precision.

The Sourcing Difference

Scale affects what coffee you can source.

Commercial Sourcing

To fill a 500-pound roaster multiple times daily, you need massive, consistent supply. This means:

• Working with the largest farms and cooperatives
• Blending across many sources for consistency
• Prioritizing availability over uniqueness

Commercial coffee isn't bad coffee. Major roasters employ talented cuppers who select quality beans. But they're selecting from what's available at scale.

Small Batch Sourcing

Small roasters can work with smaller lots:

• Micro-lots: Exceptional coffees from specific farms, specific harvests, sometimes specific sections of a farm
• Direct relationships: Buying from farms directly, not just importers
• Seasonal offerings: Featuring coffees when they're at peak, rotating as availability changes

This allows access to coffees that simply aren't available at commercial scale. The 50-bag lot from a small Colombian farm isn't going to Folgers. But it might be at your local roaster.

The Price Difference

Small batch coffee costs more. Here's why:

Economies of Scale

Commercial roasting is efficient. Automated systems, continuous operation, bulk purchasing, optimized distribution—all of this drives cost down.

Small batch sacrifices some efficiency for other benefits. More labor per pound. Smaller ingredient purchases. Less automated everything.

What You're Paying For

The price premium of small batch coffee reflects:

• Fresher coffee (roasted to order vs. inventory)
• More attention per batch
• Access to smaller, special lots
• Supporting smaller businesses
• Often, better wages and working conditions

Whether that premium is worth it depends on what you value.

Actual Numbers

Commercial grocery store coffee: $6-10/lb
Specialty grocery coffee: $12-16/lb
Small batch roasters: $14-22/lb

Per cup, the difference is about $0.20-0.40. Noticeable over a year. Marginal per cup.

What Small Batch Won't Fix

Small batch isn't magic. It won't:

• Fix bad beans: Quality green coffee matters more than batch size
• Overcome poor roasting: An unskilled small-batch roaster makes bad coffee, just less of it
• Make stale coffee fresh: A small batch roaster with slow sales has the same staleness problem as commercial
• Guarantee ethics: Batch size doesn't determine labor practices or environmental impact

Small batch creates potential. It doesn't guarantee outcomes.

How to Evaluate Small Batch Claims

When a roaster claims "small batch," ask:

What's your batch size? Actual pounds per roast tells you more than marketing language.

When was this roasted? If they can't tell you, freshness isn't a priority.

Do you roast to order? The freshness advantage of small batch only materializes if they're not sitting on inventory.

Can I visit? Small roasters often welcome visitors. If they hide their operation, wonder why.

Who roasts? Names and faces suggest craft. Anonymity suggests industrial.

Who Should Choose Small Batch

Small batch coffee makes sense if:

• Freshness matters to you—you want coffee at its peak
• You appreciate nuance—you taste and care about subtle differences
• You value relationship—knowing your roaster matters
• You want to support small business—local economy, independent operators
• You're willing to pay a modest premium for these benefits

Who's Fine with Commercial

Commercial coffee makes sense if:

• Convenience is primary—you want coffee everywhere, always available
• Cost is primary—budget constraints are real
• Consistency is primary—you want the same taste every time, no variation
• Coffee is fuel—you're not particularly seeking a sensory experience

Neither choice is wrong. They're different tools for different purposes.

The Spiritus Approach

We roast small batches in Lombard, Illinois. 10-15 pounds at a time. We roast to order—your purchase triggers a roast.

Every bag ships within 48 hours of roasting, with the roast date printed. No guessing, no hiding behind "best by" dates.

We source from importers we trust, selecting coffees that excite us. When we find a special lot, we feature it until it's gone.

This is our version of small batch. It's not the only valid version. But it's what we believe in.

Explore our current offerings →

Tasting the Difference

If you've only had commercial coffee, you might not know what you're missing. If you've only had small batch, you might not appreciate what you have.

Try both. Side by side if possible. Same brewing method, same water, same attention.

Notice:

• Aroma when you open the bag
• Complexity of flavor
• Finish and aftertaste
• How the taste evolves as the cup cools

Your palate will tell you what matters to you.

The Bigger Picture

Coffee is one of the most traded commodities on earth. The commercial coffee industry employs millions and delivers caffeine to billions.

Small batch roasters are a tiny fraction of that. We're not going to replace Folgers or Starbucks. We're offering something different for people who want it.

If you want fresh, carefully roasted coffee from people who care about the craft—small batch is where you'll find it.

If you want cheap, convenient, always-available coffee—commercial delivers that reliably.

The coffee world has room for both.

Sip in the moment.

Spiritus Coffee Co.
Small batch roasted in Lombard, Illinois.
Coffee with a Soul.