Coffee in Boston
Boston coffee roasters work in a city where a crowd of women once seized a merchant's coffee over wartime hoarding, and where a North End shop has sold coffee on the same street since 1932. Roast Local lists eight roasters under Boston and three more under the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Charlestown. Bay State Coffee Club mails a bag from a different Massachusetts roaster each box, so a Boston kitchen can drink its way through them.
Roasters in and near Boston
These are the local favorites we list with a Boston address or a Boston cafe. A listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club.
- Gracenote Coffee, Boston. Two cafes, on Lincoln Street and at High Street Place. On many Saturdays a listening room opens behind a hidden door at the cafe, modeled on Japanese jazz kissas, with curated vinyl and founder Patrick Barter sometimes on drums.
- George Howell Coffee, roasting in Acton with three Boston cafes. The flagship in The Godfrey Hotel in Downtown Crossing opened in June 2016, is open every day of the year and hosts weekly public classes. There is also a stall at Boston Public Market and a cafe on Newbury Street.
- Fazenda Coffee Roasters, Dedham, just over the city line. It has worked with Flour Bakery for about 20 years and roasts the dark roast and the 9 Bar espresso poured in Flour's cafes. Its bags sit on the shelf at DeLuca's Market on Newbury Street.
- Jaho Coffee Roaster, roasting in Salem, with Boston cafes in the Back Bay, the South End, and Chinatown and Downtown Crossing.
Roast Local also lists Boston Common Coffee Co, Flat Black Coffee Company, Pavement Coffee, Polcari's Coffee and Revival Cafe + Kitchen under Boston, and J.P. Licks under Jamaica Plain. Several of them turn up in the story below.
Every bag bought from one of these roasters pays people who roast and pour coffee in and around Boston. That is the plain case for buying Massachusetts coffee.
Boston's coffee story
On July 24, 1777, a crowd of Boston women seized coffee from the warehouse of merchant Thomas Boylston, who was hoarding it during the war. Abigail Adams wrote that there were "some say a hundred, some say more." The episode is now called the Boston Coffee Party.
Anthony Polcari started Polcari's Coffee on Salem Street in the North End in 1932. The shop still trades from that original spot.
The neighborhoods tell the newer part. Flat Black Coffee Company opened its first retail store in Lower Mills in 2003. Boston Common Coffee was founded in 2004, and Pavement Coffeehouse opened in 2009.
J.P. Licks, filed by Roast Local under Jamaica Plain, began roasting its own coffee in 1999. Its founder said he could no longer find a good cup once the Coffee Connection had been bought by Starbucks.
Getting Massachusetts coffee delivered in Boston
Boston has good cafes, but the roasters we list stretch far past the city: Acton, Salem, Northborough, Sandwich, Lee. The club brings one of them to your door each box, roasted to order and shipped in the roaster's own bag, with our packing slip telling you who roasted it and where to find them.
It is $16.99 a bag, any roast, every 2 or 4 weeks, and the first bag is free: you pay only the shipping. Skip, pause or cancel online.
- Roasted and shipped within 3 days.
- Free replacement if a bag disappoints.
- A reminder email 3 days before each box.
- Your ratings steer the next bag.
Nearby
- Cambridge, across the river, where the Coffee Connection began.
- Greater Boston: Newton, Somerville, Brookline, Medford, Dedham and more.
- Salem and the North Shore, home of the Jaho and Atomic roasteries.
Boston coffee questions
Which roasters have cafes in Boston?
Gracenote runs cafes on Lincoln Street and at High Street Place, George Howell Coffee has The Godfrey Hotel flagship, a Boston Public Market stall and a Newbury Street cafe, and Jaho has cafes in the Back Bay, the South End, and Chinatown and Downtown Crossing. These are the Boston cafes of roasters we list, checked September 27, 2026.
What was the Boston Coffee Party?
On July 24, 1777, a crowd of Boston women took coffee from merchant Thomas Boylston's warehouse because he was hoarding it during the Revolutionary War. The New England Historical Society counts it among the food riots of the Revolution.
When did Polcari's Coffee open in the North End?
Anthony Polcari started Polcari's Coffee on Salem Street in 1932, and it still trades from that first location.
Which Boston-area roasters roast light?
Gracenote lists light and medium roasts, and George Howell Coffee and Jaho both list light, medium and dark, as of September 27, 2026. George Howell offers several coffees in both a light and a medium roast.
Where can I buy Fazenda coffee in Boston?
Fazenda's bags are sold at most Star Market stores, at Flour Bakery and at DeLuca's Market on Newbury Street, among other shops it names. The Dedham roastery is wholesale only, but you can collect online orders there.
Sources
- Boston Coffee Party: New England Historical Society, The Female Food Riots of the American Revolution.
- Roasters filed under Boston and Jamaica Plain: Roast Local, Massachusetts, pulled September 27, 2026, including the listings for Polcari's Coffee, Flat Black Coffee Company, Pavement Coffee, Boston Common Coffee Co and J.P. Licks.
- Founding dates for Polcari's, Flat Black, Pavement, Boston Common Coffee and J.P. Licks: each company's own about page, read September 27, 2026.
- Gracenote, George Howell Coffee, Fazenda and Jaho: our roaster profiles, written from each roaster's public pages and checked September 27, 2026.
Updated September 2026.