We've Been Roasting and Brewing Since 1979.

Michael Phinney, the owner of Full City Coffee Roasters, faithfully roasts our beans each day, creating finely crafted coffees that are unparalleled in flavor and style. The freshness of quality and flavor of coffee is directly linked to the freshness beans you brew. Full City guarantees that the coffee you buy will have a roasted age of no more than 24 hours, and in most cases the beans will have been roasted on the very day it is sold.

At Full City, we limit our inventories to just a handful of the world's finest Arabica varieties. We understand the importance of finding the highest quality beans available. This allows us to offer coffees that are consistent in quality while possessing a broad spectrum of characteristics.

We have worked diligently to improve the growing, harvesting and processing of coffee beans to enhance the lives of coffee farmers where we source our beans.

We’ve sourced coffee from our growers in Sumatra since the 1980s. We’ve been buying our coffee green beans from the same woman in Columbia since 2000, and from our Guatemalan Co-op since 2002.  The photos featured on our website are from coffee plantations that we’ve visited many times over. 

We invite you to enjoy the delicious results of our hard work and dedication.

The beauty of a remarkable cup of coffee is in the process of bringing beans to cup that has been refined over millennia. While the history of coffee begins in the 15th century, all coffee forests can trace their origins to the Ethiopian trees. The Arabs were the first to prepare and use the land to grow coffee and begin its trade to other corners of the world. It spread throughout the 15th century to Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Persia. 

In the 16th century, coffee made its way to Europe where coffee shops were becoming social hubs in the England, Austria, France, Germany and Holland.  By the 17th century, there were nearly 300 coffee houses in London alone. 

The demand for coffee and the desire to grow it outside of Arabia took hold in the 17th century. The Dutch were able to successfully grow seedlings on the island of Java in Indonesia. The Dutch expanded their coffee cultivation to the island of Sumatra and Celebes. In 1714, Gabriel de Clieu obtained a seedling from King Louis XIV of France and transported it to Martinique. This seedling is said to have spread to over 18 million coffee trees over the next 50 years. It was from these forests that trees spread into the Caribbean and South and Central America.

By the 18th century, coffee had become a very profitable export crop. Fast-forward to the 21st century and you’ll find that the landscape for coffee growers, importers and roasters is constantly changing based on demand and the tastes of modern coffee drinkers. Dedicated purveyors in the coffee trade have improved farming practices to increase crops, harvests and bean quality. The improvements in the commercial growing of coffee are improving the lives and standards of living for coffee growers and their families worldwide.

Most coffee is still harvested by hand due to land restrictions that make it difficult to mechanize. 100 pounds of harvested cherries will yield 20 pounds of coffee beans once processed. They can be processed using the dry or wet method.  

The dry method requires laying the cherries out in the sun and rotating the beans regularly to ensure even drying. This can take weeks to get to the proper water content level before the cherries are then stored in warehouses. 

The wet method passes the cherries through a pulping machine where the bean is separated from the skin. They are rinsed in water baths where lighter less ripe beans float to the top and heavier ripe beans sink to the bottom. They are then passed through drums that separate them by size. The beans are then fermented in large tanks to remove a layer called the parenchyma. After this, the beans are ready for drying and storage. 

They can be sun dried or machine dried in tumblers. Then they are stored in bags and prepared for export. Before export the beans are hulled, polished, graded and sorted. 

About 7 million tons of green coffee is produced worldwide each year. The green coffee is shipped in jute or sisal bags and loaded into shipping containers. Coffee roasting is usually performed in the country it is shipped to, to maintain maximum freshness and quality for coffee drinkers. 

The coffee is roasted in machines and the beans are constantly moving to prevent burning. When the beans reach an internal temperature of 400 degrees they start to turn brown. This process is what produces the aroma and flavors of the coffee we drink. Full City Coffee’s founder has been roasting coffee since 1979. Michael rises early each day at 3:30 AM to begin the roasting process, creating finely crafted coffees that are unparalleled in flavor and style. Each batch is carefully selected and roasted for the perfect Full City brew. Roasting is a technical skill that blends science and art to create peak flavor and quality.