Top Coffee Roasters in Massachusetts
Massachusetts specialty coffee runs through George Howell — the man who founded The Coffee Connection in Boston, sold it to Starbucks in 1994, then built George Howell Coffee into one of the most respected roasters in the country. Boston and Cambridge grew a serious scene around that lineage, from Gracenote's espresso focus in the Leather District to Broadsheet in Cambridge and Little Wolf up in Ipswich.
- 1George Howell CoffeeBoston, Massachusetts, United States
George Howell Coffee, founded in 2004 by George Howell, roasts in Acton, Massachusetts near Boston. Howell is widely credited as one of the architects of the American specialty coffee movement, having founded The Coffee Connection in Harvard Square in 1975.
- 2Gracenote Coffee RoastersBoston, Massachusetts, US
A Boston specialty roaster and café in the Leather District near South Station, Gracenote is espresso-forward with a focus on origin transparency and processing, sourcing natural-process lots like the Ethiopia Misty Valley from Yirgacheffe.
- 3Little Wolf CoffeeIpswich, Massachusetts, US
An Ipswich, Massachusetts roaster and cafe known for clean, complex, focus-sourced coffees and a distinctive packaging identity. In 2021, Stimulus Coffee Club named them possibly one of the top five roasters in the U.S.
- 4Broadsheet Coffee RoastersCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Founded by Aaron, this Cambridge roaster-café hybrid opened near Harvard Yard around mid-2017, roasting small-batch coffees that score in the 86-to-low-90s range and supporting wholesale partners with barista training, equipment, and bar-layout consulting.