Rock Island Coffee

Overview

Rock Island Coffee was started in 1995 by Susannah Frith and Mark Kaufman in an old machine shop next to Hamilton's original Miles Market, then relocated to Reid Street in 1996. Lisabet Outerbridge bought the operation in 1998 and slowly expanded into adjacent rooms — formerly a clothing shop, CD store, law office, and downstairs Knit Shop — building Bermuda's longest-running specialty coffee operation.

Known for

• Bermuda FIRST 1995
• in-house roasting
• expansion through old retail rooms over decades
• in-house bakery program led by Bryce
• Reid Street artsy-cafe institution

Why it matters

Bermuda's specialty coffee identity is largely Rock Island. Founded a year before Stumptown Coffee Roasters opened in Portland, the cafe has been Hamilton's morning anchor for thirty years and trained generations of Bermudians on espresso-bar culture before island-roasted competitors emerged in the 2010s (Devil's Isle 2013, Bermuda Coffee Roasters 2020 in Australia under same name).

Production

destoning

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head roaster

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color sorting

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roaster machine

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filter equipment

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cupping frequency

regular

roastery location

Reid Street, Hamilton, Bermuda

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

Reid Street, Hamilton, Bermuda

Sources

• https://rockisland.bm/
• https://buzzcafe.bm/where-does-the-coffee-come-from/