The Process
Coffee worth slowing down for
Every coffee we buy is specialty grade, cupping 85 or higher. That is the floor, not the goal. From there we look for something rarer: producers doing remarkable work, coffees with a story in the cup, and a roast fresh enough to taste all of it.
Step one
The quality floor
Specialty coffee is graded on the cupping table, blind, by score. Nothing wears the Spiritus label unless it cups 85 or higher. Holding that line means we say no to a lot of good coffee so that everything we roast is genuinely worth your unhurried minutes. Rare and remarkable over cheap and plentiful; quality over quantity, every time.
Step two
Producers worth slowing down for
We seek out producers with unique production methods and a devotion to craft that mirrors our own sip in the moment ethos. A few of the relationships behind our current shelf:
Edwin Noreña
Colombia
A pioneer of cofermentation, layering fruit and native yeasts into the fermentation tank to coax flavors out of coffee that most roasters never get to taste.
A women owned cooperative
Guatemala
A cooperative of women producers whose meticulous processing turns small harvests into exceptional lots, and whose earnings stay in their own hands and community.
A family farm, met in person
Kenya
We met a Kenyan farming family at Coffee Fest Chicago and now buy from them direct, so more of every dollar reaches their family and the community around their farm.
Step three
Roasted after you order
We roast in small batches, and we roast to order. Each coffee gets its own profile, shaped by the bean's density, elevation, and processing method, then cupped before it ships. Your bag is not pulled from a warehouse shelf; it goes from roaster to bag to you while the aromatics are still at their peak.
Step four
Packed at the S.E.A.L. cafe
Every order is fulfilled from the back of our cafe inside the School of Expressive Arts and Learning in Lombard, where our team weighs, seals, labels, and ships each bag by hand. The last step of our process is also the reason for all the others.
Taste the difference
Fresh roasted, specialty grade coffee rewards a little attention. Brew it well, and learn to name what you taste.
Brewing methods The tasting wheel