Black River Roasters

So here's the deal. I like this roaster, they hire great people and the space is great inside. Without a doubt they are a top 5 cafe in the region and that should be commended. However, there's just a few things off that really irk me. On the cafe end of things. Else it would be a 5 star, no contest.

I've been a cheerleader of this place since before they opened. The next closest roasters are either overpriced, they don't date their bags, or they flavor the beans and cross contaminate (ugh). Black River gets this right and I've seen the incremental improvement in roast quality the longer they stay in business.

Let's just talk about my latest trip in:

I was stoked to hit up the cafe, I hadn't been in awhile and even talked it up to a client earlier in the morning. I roll up into the cafe, they have a gravel parking lot and its a bit bumpy. As I go to enter I spy a half smoked pack of Marlboro golds just sitting on a table by the door, I feel compelled to askSonside who it belongs to, but I resist. My goal today is to resupply on beans since I ran out. So I browse the ample selection of roasts and select an Ethiopian yirgacheffe. I turn around and wait for the barista to finish serving previous customer and browse the chalkboard of items.

Being that is warm out and I had to start my morning off with some stale instant coffee, I'm feeling a cold brew. So I order a large and kick their keg immediately. Across the way by the roasting equipment another woman is finishing up a display of goods, they stock local baked things and also build gift boxes which usually look nice and get displayed up front. She comes over to assist the attending barista on swapping it out. The tip jars are funny, they usually are good here.

I get my cold brew, and I instantly feel disappointed. It isn't the quality of the coffee, that's quite good. The people were nice, but one small thing would weave a thread connecting two events that day.

A paper straw.

So, here's the thing. Everything about a paper straw is terrible. The texture makes me think of drinking through a mini toilet paper roll insert. Then there is the knowledge that there is a clock ticking before it inevitably turns to mush. Then there's the unnecessary virtue signalling. It's a major turnoff.

You see, Black River didn't have to do this. They already used PLA plastic (Greenwear I think) for their cups and formerly for their straws. It holds up functionally the same as regular drinkwear except you can claim it's made from corn and it can be composted (albeit not in a home compost, but it's still a massive improvement over PETE). You can still virtue signal and not also tell your customers you want them to suffer through their indulgence.

Remember I mentioned they use PLA cups. As my straw turned to mush the firmer PLA straw punch bit into it and cut off any flow on the paper straw. To finish the cup I then had to remove the lid to stop the straw from being pinched off. It's just a nonsense product.

So something happened a few hours later: I'm a part time taxi driver. Later in the day I picked up a regular with a disability that asked to go to dunkin donuts. He walks with a walker and generally his arms and legs don't always go where he wants them to. He got a small iced coffee and ended up mangling his plastic straw by accident so it wouldn't go in, this was a first in the dozen or so times I brought him to one. He asks me to go inside and grab a new one so I do, and we get to talking about the paper straw nonsense. You see for me this just pisses me off, for him they are a disaster because disabled people aren't blessed with the ability to easily maneuver, that straw would be bent out of whack even before it left the wrapper. He drops this wisdom on me: "I don't see the point in paper straws when the cup is already plastic."

Coffee is great, place decor is great. This is one of my favorite place to have coffee with friends and colleagues. I travel 40 minutes every Sunday to River Roasters for the coffee.

I want to like this place but they just can't get an order correct. Sometimes it doesn't matter but other times it does. Don't want to give anti-worker companies like Starbucks my money but there's no better options...

Some love this place but I am not a fan of their coffees. Before Covid they had a nice place to sitting to enjoy your beverage and relax.

Good coffee, cool place; the lounge has a cool vibe with concert pics and posters. Nice people working there.

This coffee was really great! Roasting on premise and the smells are heavenly. If you're tired of DD and SB coffee, treat yourself to Black River. Well worth it!

Great tasting coffee. Lots of different things to try. Cool atmosphere. Very friendly employees. More expensive than Starbucks - not a judgment just a statement.

Love this coffee shop near Chubb Insurance. Small batch roasting and a killer pour over! Why have mediocre Starbucks when you can have a killer cup and support local?? #shoplocal #spendlocal #coffee #roasters

One of the best coffee roasters I have come across so far. Coffee is fresh roasted and taste amazing. The staff is extremely friendly and go out of there way for there customers.

Great people, excellent service, extremely friendly and courteous. The coffee was ok. Just my taste I guess.