small-batch coffee roasted with craft and curiosity.
Five pounds at a time. All hands. No autopilot.
The chase for better flavor
Tall Pines started because one cup finally lived up to the smell. A small farm in Costa Rica changed how I thought about coffee, and I’ve been chasing that moment ever since.
What followed: a frying pan, a lot of smoke, thrift-store parts, late nights reading roasting books, and a steady stream of experimental batches handed to friends. It became a hobby, then a craft, then… this.
I roast in Worcester at the Regional Food Hub—five pounds at a time, fully hands-on. Heat, smell, color, sound. No automation. No “set it and forget it.” Just doing the work until the flavor hits right.
Rooted in sense of place
The name Tall Pines comes from my favorite place to drink coffee: the breezy pine forest where I live. Summer mornings with a mug of black coffee. Winter afternoons with a cortado by the wood stove, watching snow drift through the trees. It’s quiet, steady, and a good place to think about the next roast.
what’s roasting
Roasting is equal parts engineering and craft. I keep the batches small so I can actually pay attention—adjust heat, track the curve, catch the shifts in smell and color. I’m not chasing consistency. I’m chasing the best potential flavor of a bean.
Medium-Dark Roast
Medium body, medium acidity
This is an evolving blend of beans designed to prepare well as espresso. This blend has enough character to stand on its own as espresso, and enough strength to shine through a milk drink. We drop the beans from the roaster just before second crack, placing it somewhere between a medium and a dark roast. It is perfect for espresso, but just as delicious prepared with any method.
Try it out month to month as we experiment with blends of beans from around the world!
Dark Roast
Medium body, medium acidity
Tasting Notes: Milk Chocolate, Almond, Nougat
Natural Process
This coffee is sourced from the Cafecauca cooperative in Cauca, Colombia. Founded in 1961, Cafecauca supports thousands of small farms in the region while offering training in sustainable stewardship of the land. This coffee is roasted with USDA organic beans.
Light Roast
Roasted with beans from the Guji region of Ethiopa, this coffee has a delicious sparkling acidity and syrupy sweetness with notes of milk chocolate, jasmine and nectarine.
Process: Natural
Farm: Buku Hambela
Where to find Tall Pines Coffee
online ordering
for pickup in leicester or worcester, MA
Cotyledon Farm
LEICESTER, maOpen daily 7-7 for order pickup.
Grab a bag. Check out the produce and local goods too.
wooden bakery & Wooden bar
worcester, ma*Coming soon!
Lattes, cappuccinos, cortodos, espresso martinis. Grab some French pastries to go with. Hard to go wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Order online, and select from the listed locations. You will be notified when your order is ready for pickup, usually the next day. Show up any time during business hours for your selected location and it will be waiting for you! More specific instructions will be sent based on the location you choose.
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Right now, I do not ship. Order online and pick up at the Cotyledon Farm store in Leicester, or Wooden Bar in Worcester.
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The Worcester Regional Food Hub. WRFH has a brand new state of the art commercial kitchen in Union Station in downtown Worcester where I do my roasting. They also offer the training, networks and business resources needed for small businesses like Tall Pines Coffee. If you have a food related business idea, reach out to them!
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The lighter the roast, the more the flavors of the specific region show up in the cup. Many of these unique flavors are due to the presence of organic acids. These peak at a very light roast level and provide the brightness and delicacy that many connoisseurs seek. As the roast level progresses, the sugars in the beans start to degrade, and browning reactions take over. The Maillard reaction is responsible for developing the floral, earthy and nutty aromas among others. Caramelization can produce fruity and nutty flavors while consuming the available sugars. This also results in the bitter and sour flavors present in coffee.
All of this is to say that when roasted too darkly, coffee beans lose all of their unique flavors that farmers and roasters work hard to develop (and pay for!), and all coffees start to taste the same. My darkest roasts are stopped just at the point where the bittersweet roasty flavors start to develop, but before all of the unique flavors are destroyed. This results in a dark brown bean that may have occasional specks of oil on the surface. If you drink commercial dark roasts, mine may be lighter than you are used to, but give it a try with an open mind, you may be surprised! You may also try it with less cream and sugar, which are often necessary in the darkest commercial roasts to cut the bitter and burnt flavors.
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I source my beans from a company that focuses on specialty-grade green coffee imports from around the world. They ship ½ sacks (65 pounds) packed at the source, which are perfect for a small scale roaster like Tall Pines. This allows me to offer a wider selection, and rotate through varieties quickly without needing to order a pallet of beans of a single variety. Each bag is traceable to its source to ensure consistency and quality, and comes with a fact sheet about the farm and region. Much of this information is included in the individual product description.
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It is amazing how the same bean can taste so different between brewing methods! There is no right roast or method, it all comes down to what you enjoy.
Any high quality bean, when properly roasted, can make a delicious cup with a standard drip-style coffee maker coupled with a quality burr grinder. To experience a little more clarity and nuance, a simple dripper like the Hario V60 and a gooseneck kettle will give you all the control necessary to experiment. It is perfect for preparing one to two cups.
With any brew method, the most important things you can do are to freshly grind your beans with a burr grinder, and to keep your equipment clean. The oils from coffee can build up in those hard to reach spots and quickly turn rancid, spoiling even the best beans.
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A scoop is a difficult measurement for coffee. The density changes drastically with roast level and grind size. If you have a scale in your kitchen, I would recommend trying it out for brewing your coffee.
Start with a 16:1 ratio of water to coffee by weight. Place your carafe on the scale and tare the scale, then fill it with water to the level of your finished brew. Simply divide this number by 16, and that will tell you how much coffee to measure out. This will get you close to the optimum balance for any drip style brewer or a french press.
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I love espresso. I usually use my Guatemalan medium roasts to make espresso at home. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need an espresso roast or blend to make great espresso. In general, a darker roast will be more forgiving to prepare as espresso than a lighter roast, especially if you are going for a traditional Italian shot. Light roasts, while more difficult to prepare, can really highlight the brighter fruity flavors. Unfortunately, home espresso comes with a high price tag if you want to match the results from a specialty coffee shop. If you have a home machine, start with my darker roasts. They will be more forgiving. If that is successful, try a medium roast. The good news is that you can use the same beans for any brew method!