FAQs
Purpose
We are guided by the notion that responsible business can do good and create value for everyone involved, from the producers we work with to our dear and valuable supporters drinking our coffees at home or preparing them in their shops. We are driven to present our menu in a way that celebrates the producer while also making the coffees inviting and accessible for everyday drinking.
Origins
With a background in many facets of specialty coffee on the West Coast (LA, Portland & Seattle), we launched our micro roasting business in 2013. Our first roasting space was in the garage of Jared's (founder) family home on 20 acres of rural property in unincorporated Portage County, Wisconsin. We found a niche with quality-driven cafes nationwide and saw a huge response shipping directly to home consumers (thank you!)
In 2015 we moved our operation to nearby Nelsonville, WI, where we found an old warehouse space that would accommodate our growth. We have since renovated the entire 4000+ square foot building and have devoted spaces for coffee storage, shipping, quality control, roasting, and also a weekend tasting room.
Sprudge wrote a piece about us early on that covers some more details, which you can read here.
Locations
Nelsonville
Our roasting, fulfillment and tasting room are based in rural Central Wisconsin in a small town called Nelsonville (population 200). We choose to be here because of the access to outdoors and recreation, amazing community, wealth of amazing food, farmers, and craft breweries, and generally inspiring culture.
Update 2020:
Our headquarters is currently closed to the public due to factors related to Covid-19. Please keep an eye on our social media accounts for any updates.
(Currently offering takeout only, click for menu and online ordering)
In May 2019 we opened our first full cafe and restaurant in nearby Stevens Point, WI! Directions here. We have dreamed for years of opening a comfortable cafe where guests can enjoy our food and drinks every day in Portage County.
Our kitchen team makes fresh sweet and savory crepes, salads, soups, and more! Coffees rotate frequently and we always have an extensive selection of whole bean coffees.
We have updated our cafe to provide a safe environment for our customers and our staff due to Covid-19. Currently offering takeout only. All surfaces are sanitized frequently, plexiglass barriers are up around the bar, and more. Thank you for your support!!
Hours as of December, 2020:
Monday: closed
Tuesday: 7-1
Wednesday: 7-1
Thursday: 7-1
Friday: 7-3
Saturday: 7-3
Sunday: 7-1
Roast and ship schedule
We strive to ship orders as quickly as possible. We roast on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Orders placed by 4:00 p.m. Central Time the day before a roast will be guaranteed to ship the following day. If we have extra coffee and time at the end of a production day we may then fulfill same day orders as we're able. We occasionally adjust this schedule based on holiday shipping restrictions and so on.
***Due to high order volumes from the Covid-19 pandemic, some orders placed on Sunday may be delayed to ship on Tuesday if we have exceeded our production capacity. We are working hard to get your orders shipped as quickly as possible. Thank you for your support and understanding!
Shipping methods
We ship UPS Surepost, UPS Ground, USPS Priority and USPS First Class.
Please let us know if you have special shipping requests.
We do not adjust or correct any addresses when shipping packages. Please make sure yours is correct before submitting your order for successful shipping service.
Finding Ruby coffee in your local market
We are proud to sell to some of the best cafes, markets, restaurants nationwide. We have customers in NYC, Miami, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Gainesville, Tampa, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and more!
Drop us an email if you'd like to know where to buy nearest you (ruby@rubycoffeeroasters.com).
Sourcing our coffees
Our approach to sourcing is based on some key principles: quality, sustainability, transparency, passion, collaboration. We work together with coffee producers, exporters, and importer partners to achieve responsible sourcing with an eye to the future.
We believe a successful, sustainable supply chain relies on a personal connection to the coffees and an understanding of the specific and unique challenges coffee producers face. These factors are always growing and changing. We have visited producers in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia. If you have any questions about specific projects or offerings, please get in touch.
Roast degree
'Harmony' is a guiding philosophy of our roasting approach.
We roast our coffees to a classic medium degree in a way that is intended to balance the unique and distinct flavors of each offering with the dynamic, sweet flavors developed during the roasting process. Our goal is to create roasts that make for easy, consistently tasty results for our customers.
Our brightest coffees will generally be from Africa, while our most syrupy and rich will be from Latin America or specifically our Creamery blend.
Our slogan "Colorful Coffees"
Each of our coffees is carefully and specifically chosen to represent a glimpse of microclimate, micro-region, and a vignette into a moment in time.
We like our coffees with a little flair and we are proud to celebrate the broad range of beautiful, colorful flavor coffee can have. We focusing on celebrating the unique, exciting qualities of each offering.
Our coffees change seasonally based on the harvest cycle of the countries we work in.
Any other questions? Drop us an email to ruby@rubycoffeeroasters.com.