what makes single origin coffee different
nearly all coffees sold in the US are commodity beans blended and roasted at an industrial scale. beans are harvested, selected, and blended by machine; the result is coffee that may have some distinct regional characteristics, but can't really taste unique since it's effectively the average of flavors from dozens or hundreds of different producers.
single origins, by contrast come from one specific region, cooperative, or even estate. you can actually taste characteristics that are unique to the specific place, varietal, and production method. just like wine, flavors can also be influenced by soil and altitude. you can taste two different coffees from the same village and have wildly different flavors show up - if you haven't experienced it before, it can be a bit mind-blowing.
when you brew a sidamo guj, you're tasting the result of generations of producers growing in guji village. the bright, fruity notes aren't added or engineered. they're just what that coffee tastes like when it's grown there and roasted well. same goes for the bold complexity you'll find in a kenya ab or the balanced sweetness of huehuetenango. each tells you something about where it came from. we roast every single origin coffee in small batches, to order, so what you're tasting is that coffee at its freshest and best.
roasted fresh in the north country
st. lawrence valley roasters has been here since 2008 and is now a second generation family business. our uncle, tim gardner, started the roastery in his garage in lisbon, NY and eventually moved it to west potsdam, where it remains today. we (tim and conor o'brien) took over in 2023. conor does all the roasting now. he's got over a decade of experience in coffee, most of it spent as a barista at jernabi in potsdam.
we kept the same approach that built the roastery's reputation. it's straightforward: we find great coffee, roast it carefully, and ship it as quickly as we can. it's not the most efficient or easy way to roast or run a business, but it does guarantee that our customers get to experience the unique qualities of the single origins we roast.
our single origin selection
right now we've got single origins from all over the world. ethiopian coffees like our sidamo guji tend to be floral and tea-like, with notes like blueberry, bergamot, or jasmine. if you've never had a naturally processed ethiopian coffee, it can be a bit of a revelation. Central American origins like huehuetenango often bring chocolate and citrus notes with a sweetness that makes them easy to drink every day. East African coffees from Kenya are known for their brightness. think red apple, raspberry, grapefruit.
the specific coffees in our lineup change based on what's available and what's tasting great, but the goal stays the same: we want to offer single origin coffees that show you what each region does well. light roasts if you want to taste all those delicate fruit and floral notes. darker roasts if you prefer something richer and more developed. either way, you're getting coffee that tastes like where it came from.
always fresh, organic, and fair trade
every single origin coffee we sell is certified organic and fair trade. this is better for the land, better for the people working on the farms, and in the end, better for you.
we roast to order because coffee tastes better when it's fresh. your coffee get roasted in small batches here in potsdam and shipped out before it reaches peak flavor. we don't let anything sit on a shelf for months: it's roasted and packaged the same day, and shipped at latest the next day. that way, you get to taste something unique to the place that created it at the absolute peak of its flavor. it's how we've always done it, and it's one of those things we're not interested in changing.
