Black & White Coffee Roasters

Black & White Coffee Roasters started in 2017 with two US Barista Champions, Kyle Ramage and Lem Butler, who wanted more people to try the kinds of coffees they’d encountered in competition. Its first cafe, in Wake Forest, North Carolina, also housed its earlier roasting operation. That competitive background helps explain the company’s curiosity about what specialty coffee can taste like, but its stated aim includes approachability, too. For someone brewing at home, the appeal is the invitation to explore without treating coffee knowledge as an entry requirement. The founders’ original idea was straightforward: make those interesting coffee experiences available to a much wider audience.