At Arboretum Coffee, we believe that every cup begins long before it’s poured. The journey to a meaningful and memorable coffee experience starts with the beans themselves—and just as importantly, with the roast. As a café rooted in both quality and service to our community, we’ve built our approach around selecting roasters that not only employ science and craft but also imbue their businesses with a commitment to others, especially marginalized populations. 

Here’s a rundown of what we look at before we decide on partnering with a coffee roaster.

Precision Over Excess: A Balanced Roast

First things first: roast quality. When it comes to roasting, we aren’t looking for dark, shiny beans that have been pushed past their limits. While we appreciate a good dark roast, it’s easy to over-do it, and over-roasting doesn’t just mute the flavor nuances—it erases them. Those black, oily beans may look appealing to some, but they come at the expense of the delicate flavor profiles that make coffee truly special.

Instead, we look for professional, balanced roasts where the beans retain a warm caramel color. This signals that the roaster has protected and carefully brought out the inherent sweetness, brightness, and flavor complexity of the bean. Just as we apply carefully calibrated scientific processes in preparing our coffee—from precise water temperature to exact brew times—we expect our roasting partners to approach their craft with the same level of intentionality. Coffee is both science and art, and the best roasts strike a harmony between the two.

Roasters Who Share our Values

We choose roasting partners who treat coffee as both craft and science, and who highlight the inherent qualities of the beans rather than mask them. We look for roasts that protect sweetness and bring out balance, the chocolate depth, the citrus brightness, or the juicy fruit character hiding in the bean. Our partners use intentional, precise roasting methods that let us serve approachable comfort coffees alongside bright, complex offerings. When the roast respects the bean, the result is a coffee that tells a story: of farmers, roasters, and the craft of preparation. 

Some of the roasters we proudly work with include:

Huckleberry Roasters: Huckleberry is committed to building a sustainable coffee business rooted in strong relationships with smallholder farms and cooperatives. They are also deeply engaged in supporting both local and global organizations serving vulnerable communities, within and beyond the coffee industry.

Sweet Bloom Coffee: Known for their meticulous attention to detail and pursuit of balance, Sweet Bloom roasts with the same scientific precision that guides our brewing methods.

Redemption Roasters: A roaster that pairs quality with purpose, offering opportunities to marginalized communities while crafting thoughtful, consistent roasts.

Isolation Coffee: Our go-to for decaf, Isolation Coffee creates decaffeinated roasts that maintain depth and flavor—proof that decaf doesn’t have to mean compromise.

Seedhouse Coffee: Seedhouse seeks to be generative in both coffee roasting and community-building. They actively foster collaboration and invest in their local Steamboat community while also giving a percentage of profits to global projects and initiatives that create positive transformation. Their commitment to both craft and compassion makes them a natural partner for Arboretum

By partnering with these and like-minded roasters, we’re not just choosing quality—we’re making intentional choices to help build a coffee industry that is as compassionate as it is profitable and delicious.

Why It All Matters

For us, it isn’t enough to serve “good coffee.” We want every cup to tell a story of care: care in farming, care in roasting, care in preparation, and care in fostering a community where everyone can thrive, no matter their origin. Coffee should never be reduced to a commodity. It should be an invitation to slow down, connect, and appreciate a craft that involves so many dedicated hands.

When the roast is balanced, the beans are cared for, and the process is respected, the result is something remarkable: a cup that warms your heart as it warms your belly.

Taste the Difference at Arboretum Today

At Arboretum Coffee, we don’t just serve great coffee—we honor the people and processes that create it! Stop by and see us today; we’re right off the Mason Trail in Fort Collins, at the intersection of Prospect Road and Mason Street. Bike, walk, or drive in, and experience for yourself the incredible combination of flavors that come from exquisitely roasted coffee.