We do not roast our own coffee. Deliberate choice. Roasting well takes years of obsessive focus, dedicated equipment, and a palate refined through thousands of cuppings. We found two people who have already done that work. And they happen to be local.
Eiland Coffee Roasters
Clay Eiland started nearly twenty-five years ago in a ten-by-twenty-foot barn on his property. Taught himself. Visited Cafe Vita in Seattle, tasted what specialty coffee could be, and brought that standard back to Richardson when most of Dallas was still drinking Starbucks.
He is a certified Q Grader. The coffee equivalent of a sommelier. Beans graded on a 100-point scale using calibrated, objective protocols. His floor is 86. Specialty starts at 80. He does not buy anything that does not clear his threshold by six points.
The machine: a 1969 German Probat UG-22. Cast iron, not steel. Cast iron distributes heat more evenly and reacts faster at the molecular level - sweeter roast, less acidity, more developed flavor. Modern roasters are faster. The Probat is better.
He sources directly from farms in Ethiopia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Panama. Visits them. Cups the lots. In a single season, over fifteen coffees rated 88 or higher, including several 90-plus micro-lots - batches as small as eighty pounds. Those sell in days.
His roastery sits at 532 North Interurban Street in Richardson. A few minutes from our shop. The beans in your cortado traveled miles, not time zones.
Liaise Coffees
Dallas-based. Built around a single idea - coffee as a working relationship. The name means to establish a cooperative connection. That is not branding copy. That is how they source, roast, and sell.
Three tiers. Core coffees - year-round blends, something consistent to come back to. Farm Team - darker roasted everyday coffees designed as daily drivers. Seasonal - single-origin lots sourced through long-term partnerships with specific farms.
Their flagship blend is called DISCO. Their natural process offering, JUICYFRUIT, is exactly what it sounds like - bright, fruity, processed in a way that keeps the cherry flavor in the cup. When we rotate a Liaise single origin onto the bar, regulars notice. Two roasters, two philosophies, one bar.
Why Two Roasters
No single roaster covers the full range of what coffee can be. Eiland gives us precision - scored, graded, roasted on equipment that predates most of the industry. Liaise gives us range - seasonal lots, natural processes, a lighter touch that plays differently in iced drinks and pourovers.
Both are local. Both are small.
We chose them because we believe the person roasting your coffee should be close enough to hear about it when something is off. And close enough to celebrate when it lands.
Eiland and Liaise beans are available at the bar and by the bag at Moon Wolf Provisions. Ask your barista what is on the grinder today. 920 Custer Road, Richardson.
