Santa Barbara Roasting Co.

It all started in 1989 when

In September 1989, the Santa Barbara Roasting Company opened its doors. From the beginning, the Santa Barbara Roasting Company has been unique. 'RoCo', as the locals call it, was given to us by our customers more than 20 years ago, it comes from the first two letters in 'RO'asting 'CO'mpany. RoCo established itself as an organization deeply committed to providing people with the finest estate-grown coffees from around the world as well as the highest level of customer service possible.

This simple idea proved successful. To this day, people come in droves to watch their favorite coffee being hand roasted in small batches and taste what most have never really had before, a truly fresh and delicious cup of coffee. In 1997, RoCo expanded beyond the bounds of retail by offering our coffee to wholesale customers throughout California. We received so many requests for coffee from local restaurants, hotels, and other coffee houses that the wholesale business literally took off overnight.

We roast coffee because we love it! At RoCo, we know our java. We roast the perfect coffee to complement your unique atmosphere. We slow roast all of our coffee in small batches. We are considered a micro roaster due to the fact that we roast batches of 50 pounds or less. Then it’s air cooled, not water quenched. (We decided to allow you to add the water when you want to brew it, instead of charging you for it by the pound, as many roasters do. Read about water quenching in the Coffee Myth #5 here) Our five-pound, mylar bags have valves to allow for degassing without flavor contamination. This means more flavor and no bitterness. Of course, statements like this are rarely proven by mere words. So we will let our coffee do the talking and you do the tasting. We are confident that you, your friends, your family, and your customers alike will taste the difference when you try our fine coffees.

We offer over 70 varieties of coffee, ranging from blends, single origins, flavored, decaf, and naturally grown coffees. Our Naturally Grown Coffee line is the result of carefully blending varietals from three new directions in coffee cultivation. Each Naturally Grown blend is comprised of organically grown, shade grown, and fair trade coffees. Organically grown coffees are cultivated using no chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Shade-grown coffees provide priceless habitats for hundreds of bird species, and Fair Trade coffees are specially priced to insure a living wage is returned to the farmers and workers who cultivate them.