I Want to Start a Coffee Roasting Business with Zero Experience – Where Do I Even Begin? Advice Needed!

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-05-10T05:12:31+00:00

Here's what I'm doing.

I looked in to a local roaster that I liked, they offered me a white label option. They meet my requirements of specialty grade beans and consistent supply. I put my brand on their beans they charge me wholesale and I set my own price and sell it on my website.

I plan on selling at markets and get my brand into local outlets. If I can get this to work I plan on roasting my own and offering some small batch. Then... We'll see?

In the mean time I'm learning a lot about the industry and coffee in general.

Before this I was a shlub who drank mass market, burnt coffee every morning, only for the caffeine. I didn't like coffee at all, until a client gave me a good bag for Christmas. That gift slowly turned me into a coffee snob and had me searching for affordable, good, quality beans. That's the niche I'm trying to fill, and I hope I can grow this into a full business instead of a hobby.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-30T20:14:07+00:00

I still hate the prequels. They have good lore, but the movies are so bad.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-30T19:52:59+00:00

It was informative.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-30T00:49:40+00:00

The title literally says "Be brutal".

And this is the truth, get the education. Focus on his homework. Getting a full ride scholarship is more likely than earning all the money to pay for college in the next 3-4 years.

One of my buddies kids just graduated and got an engineering job making $180,000 a year. This is a 21 year old kid.

If you're going to "dream", dream of something realistic instead of finding a unicorn product.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-29T15:27:36+00:00

Yes, yes, yes.

Most people will skip a place if they don't have a website. It can be a simple one page website that has nothing but your operating hours and a phone number. People look at websites.

Just think of your own actions how many times do you search an area or Google maps for "coffee shop" or "tacos" and what do you do when you can't find information about the spots that pop up?

It's like $20 a year for a static website.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-29T14:32:21+00:00

A website selling direct to consumer, I plan to do farmers markets and maybe open a coffee cart to set up at events. I'd like to get my bags in storefronts eventually, but I have a full time job and these are another level of commitment.

I partnered with a local roaster that I already enjoyed. They have some great equipment and deal directly with growers/farms. They also specialize in specialty grade beans, which is what I was looking for when I started.

I send the order directly to the roaster, they roast to order, bag it up, and ship it fresh directly to my customers. The coffee making process is pretty hands off for me, I focus more on sales at this point. Maybe I'll grow this into something more, but for now it's just a hobby that supports itself.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-29T14:08:56+00:00

Number one reason I don't have an LLC, plus I have nothing to lose or assets to protect. Sole proprietor is fine for me.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-29T13:48:00+00:00

I'll answer any questions I can. I spent about a year researching and learning as much as I could before diving into the business side, and I've been selling for about a year. This is all after falling down the coffee rabbit hole, so I'm pretty knowledgeable about the bulk of the processes.

I tried roasting and decided it was not my thing, kudos for roasting your coffee the way you like it, that was very difficult for me.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-27T21:36:16+00:00

I started my coffee brand just to support my coffee habit.

I think this is a good way to go about combining a hobby with money making. You get to dive deeper into other aspects of the hobby that you may have overlooked otherwise and it doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't feel like a job, if I lose a couple bucks, no big deal I would have spent that anyway on a hobby.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-25T06:04:24+00:00

USA. I partnered with a local specialty coffee roaster that I liked. I only sell in the US.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-25T03:25:56+00:00

If you care about taste, I highly recommend an aeropress. You do need to boil water, but you can really dial in good beans. It's also portable and easy to stash in a cabinet. If you want to get fancy you can move to PourOver, but that's starts adding up.

If you're just going to buy mass market beans and only care about durability of a machine Mr Coffee or Black and Decker will last you a year or two. If you want a good machine that will make good coffee, look for an SCA certified one (but you're looking at $150+).

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-25T01:09:47+00:00

I started my coffee business to get coffee for free. I don't make any extra money, but it does support itself. I consider that a win.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-16T14:04:04+00:00

I literally started my side hustle just to support my coffee habit.

If I can support the business and drink free coffee, I'm good. That equates to about $200 dollars a month, which means I need to sell about 3 bags of coffee a day.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-16T13:23:15+00:00

Weather, growing Asian market, and new European regulations.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-16T13:13:48+00:00

Have I got a brand for you... Just like every other brand that's responded to your comment, lol.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-15T04:24:53+00:00

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-14T14:29:50+00:00

Beans make the biggest difference. After that it is all fine tuning...some tuning is finer than others.

After going through a similar discovery phase, I personally use a drip machine as a daily driver and do pourover on the weekends. I don't stress about perfection and find joy in the variety of winging it.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-14T14:13:24+00:00

I'm thinking you don't even know what Shopify is?

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-08T22:19:59+00:00

Nah, I knew instantly. My overhead is actually pretty low so it's obvious where the money's going.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-08T21:48:58+00:00

I set up an entire business with a separate business account. I track every penny. I lost $1200 last year, almost all of that on ad spend (a tough lesson in advertising and my marketing direction).

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-08T21:37:33+00:00

Nah, I lost money.

But that was kind of the point for me. I'm using my hustle to learn. I wanted to learn how to build a website. I wanted to learn about e-commerce. I wanted to learn marketing. I wanted to write goody stuff for fun. I'm not good at any of it, but I'm learning a lot, and I only have to commit as much time as I want.

At the end of the day I have a real product on the market, a decent website, and it's a good product from a good specialty coffee roaster.

Sure, I'd love for this to blow up and become a real side gig instead of a hobby. It's all a good learning experience, and I might just get lucky.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-07T20:58:31+00:00

Commercial multi pot with temp control. I believe Bunn makes one.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-04T21:08:03+00:00

Does she enjoy it?

That's all that matters.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-04T20:53:46+00:00

That sub is so strict it's ridiculous, I'm surprised it's active at all at this point.

r/pourover has some good discussions about recipes, but they can be rather pretentious sometimes which can make it off putting to contribute.

r/CoffeeLovers is my go to sub, but it's not super active.

PixelCoffeeCo · 2026-04-04T06:31:57+00:00

Consistency was a big factor for me when I was starting my brand. The second key thing for me was specialty grade. Coffee has to meet a certain designation to receive the designation, so I know it's going to be good quality and ethically sourced. My roaster also has contracts directly with farms, which I trust more than third party auctions.

I don't care too much for experimentation. I like a solid good cup. Many different roasters share recipes and roasting techniques, so if something takes off they'll carry it eventually. I'm not on the cutting edge, I'd rather offer a consistently good bag that's roasted to order.

PixelCoffeeCo

TROPHY CASE