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Seattle · United States

Kuma Coffee

Since 2008 · Mark Barany

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Overview

Kuma was started in 2008 by Mark Barany in his Seattle garage — Barany had spent his teenage years in Nairobi where his missionary parents had moved in 1995, and the Kenyan coffees he grew up with shaped Kuma's whole light-roast, fruit-forward African program. He left an IT job to roast on a 12kg Probat in Bellevue, then moved into Interbay in 2012 with a Loring S35 Kestrel. Peter Mark Ingalls now owns and roasts at the still-tiny four-person operation.

Known for

  • Founder Mark Barany grew up in Nairobi (1995 onward) — Kuma's Kenyan and Ethiopian programs trace directly to that childhood
  • Loring Kestrel S35 production roaster
  • Four-person team with no retail café — wholesale and direct-to-consumer only across 32+ states
  • Pays well above commodity and Fair Trade prices on origin lots in Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Honduras
  • 2nd place in 2013 America's Best Espresso Competition; multiple Good Food Awards

Why it matters

Kuma is the proof point that a sub-five-person specialty roaster can hold national wholesale credibility on quality alone. No café, no retail flagship, no media campaign — just a Loring Kestrel and a fanatical sourcing program built on Mark Barany's African childhood. That's why Seattle's best independent cafés (Milstead, Tougo, Empire, Mr. West) carry Kuma alongside their own house roasters.

Production

destoning
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head roaster
Peter Mark Ingalls (current owner)
color sorting
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roaster machine
Loring S35 Kestrel
filter equipment
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cupping frequency
every batch
roastery location
Interbay, Seattle, WA
espresso equipment
null
annual volume tonnes
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Recognitions

  • 2nd place — 2013 America's Best Espresso Competition
  • Multiple Good Food Awards
  • La Marzocco Café Seattle Roaster in Residence (November 2019)

Sources

More roasters