Nelsonville · United States
Ruby Coffee Roasters
Ruby Coffee Roasters roasts in Nelsonville, Wisconsin.
Since 2013 · Jared Linzmeier, Deanna Linzmeier
Overview
Ruby was founded in fall 2013 by Jared and Deanna Linzmeier, with the first batches roasted in early 2014 from the garage of Jared's childhood home on twenty rural acres in Portage County, Wisconsin. Jared had left Wisconsin in 2007 for the West Coast specialty scene — including a stint at Intelligentsia — before returning home to launch Ruby; the company moved into a 4,000+ square foot warehouse in Nelsonville (population ~200) in 2015, and is named for Jared's grandmother Ruby Szitta.
Known for
- Two-time Food & Wine Best Roaster in Wisconsin (2018, 2019) and Good Food Award winner
- Nelsonville roastery and cafe in a village of roughly 200 people on the Tomorrow River
- Stevens Point flagship cafe with full kitchen serving rice bowls, crepes and from-scratch baking
- Flagship blend Creamery designed to work across espresso and drip equally
- Founder Jared Linzmeier's pedigree: ex-Intelligentsia roaster with West Coast and PNW specialty experience
Why it matters
Ruby is the rare US micro-roaster with a national reputation that operates not from a coastal city but from a 200-person Wisconsin village, and its inversion of the typical setup — bringing producers to Nelsonville rather than only the other way around — has made it a reference point for relationship-driven specialty.
Production
- head roaster
- Katy Szapa (Production Roaster)
- roastery location
- Nelsonville, Wisconsin (4,000+ sq ft warehouse, near the Tomorrow River)
Café
Stevens Point, WI (flagship cafe in historic downtown); Nelsonville, WI (HQ cafe, opened May 2019, ~2,000 sq ft adjacent to roastery)
Recognitions
- Food & Wine — Best Roaster in Wisconsin (2018, 2019)
- Good Food Award winner