Wilmington · United States
Brandywine Coffee Roasters
Brandywine Coffee Roasters roasts in Wilmington, Delaware.
Since 2015 · Alisa Morkides
Overview
Brandywine Coffee Roasters was founded in 2015 by Alisa Morkides as the dedicated roastery arm of Brew HaHa!, the nine-store northern Delaware cafe chain she had been building since the early 1990s after two decades of buying coffee from out-of-state suppliers. Centered on a Loring S15 Falcon at the Trolley Square Brew HaHa, the operation produces 4,000–7,000 pounds a week, ships nationally, and packages each release in screen-printed bags hand-illustrated by local Delaware artist Todd Purse.
Known for
- Delaware's first dedicated specialty roastery (2015), supplying the Brew HaHa! chain Morkides has run since the early 1990s
- Loring S15 Falcon production with a light-leaning roast profile
- Hand screen-printed retail bags illustrated by Delaware artist Todd Purse
- Best Coffee in Delaware — Food & Wine 'Best Coffee in Every State'
- Sprudgie Award for Best Design/Packaging (2017)
Why it matters
Brandywine showed that a regional cafe operator could turn 20 years of accumulated supplier knowledge into a genuine specialty roastery rather than another house-blend program — and packaged it with enough graphic-design ambition to win Sprudgie design awards out of Wilmington.
Production
- head roaster
- Vic Scutari (Head of Coffee)
- roaster machine
- Loring S15 Falcon (Smart Roaster, ~80% less natural gas than traditional drum)
- cupping frequency
- Hundreds of coffees cupped per year
- roastery location
- Wilmington, Delaware (Trolley Square Brew HaHa)
Café
Sister-company Brew HaHa! operates 9-10 cafes across northern Delaware that all serve Brandywine coffee
Recognitions
- Best Coffee in Every State (Delaware) — Food & Wine
- Sprudgie Award — Best Design/Packaging (2017)