What a roaster needs to be listed
The club chooses roasters that are independent, roast in Massachusetts, and were operating when we checked. A roaster that meets all of those goes on our list. One that fails any of them does not.
- Independent. Owned by the people who run it, not by a national coffee company. Dean's Beans in Orange is owned by its workers. Speedwell in Plymouth is still run day to day by its founder, Derek Anderson.
- Roasts in Massachusetts. The coffee has to be roasted here, not only sold here. Snowy Owl opened in Brewster but now roasts at its Sandwich cafe, so we list it under Sandwich.
- Operating when we checked. We look for a working shop, current products and recent updates on the roaster's own pages, and we put the date we checked on the page.
Today we follow 20 Massachusetts roasters, from Lee in the Berkshires to West Dennis on the Cape, out of the 102 independent roasters the Roast Local directory lists in the state. We add roasters as we check them against the same tests.
Buying from a roaster that passes those tests keeps money with a Massachusetts business. Why that matters.
What a listing means
The roasters on this site are local favorites we list because we like them. A listing does not mean a roaster is part of the club, has signed anything with us, or endorses us. Each roaster page says so in plain words.
What the roaster decides
A roaster that roasts for the club sets its own price. The roaster roasts to order and ships in its own bag and packaging, with our packing slip inside: the roaster's name, their shop, their story and tasting notes. The bag you open is the roaster's own.
Our side of it is four promises, the same for every box:
- 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.
How your ratings steer the next bag
After each box you rate the bag. We pick the coffee from the next roaster with that rating in mind, inside the roast level and style you chose. If a bag disappoints, tell us, and a different coffee goes out at no charge.
Editorial policy
Joe McRose writes the roaster pages. Every fact on them comes from the roaster's own public pages first, then from public sources such as the Roast Local directory. We write in our own words and do not copy a roaster's text. Each page shows the date its facts were checked.
We say where a fact comes from when it matters. Atomic in Peabody does not publish its street address, so the address on its page comes from Roast Local, and the page says so. Indigo's roastery is in Florence, a village of Northampton, and we use the Northampton address its own site gives.
We do not publish ratings, reviews or scores on roaster pages. Once we have a contact at a roaster, we send them their page to check.
Corrections and removal
A roaster can ask us to correct its page or remove it by emailing roasters@baystatecoffeeclub.com. Tell us what is wrong and where the right fact is published, and we fix it. If a roaster asks to come off the list, we take the page down.
Readers who spot a mistake can use the same address. The full list of roasters we follow is on the Massachusetts roasters page.