Black and White Roasters

Black and White Roasters was founded in 2017 and roasts in Raleigh, North Carolina. Eight of its 12 active single origins come from Colombia. Ethiopia supplies three and Panama one, so the green book is concentrated on one country to a degree the blend list does not show.

Processing is the other half of that picture. Seven of the 12 singles are anaerobic or otherwise fermented and four are washed, with the last one produced by a method that fits no standard label. Fermentation is the default here rather than the exception, and it explains why lychee and pineapple appear in the tasting notes at all, sitting beside the milk chocolate that leads the list.

Roasting stays near the middle. Nine of the 19 active coffees are medium-light, four are medium, and four are medium-dark, with one light roast and one dark roast at the outer edges. Blends account for seven of the 19. Twelve-ounce bags start at $21 and the median is $26, though a small number of scarce lots climb far past that, as high as $96.

Single Origins

Blends

Roast Profile & Flavor Range

The roast histogram peaks at medium-light, which covers nine of the 19 active coffees. Four sit at medium and four at medium-dark, leaving one light roast and one dark at the ends, so the working range is narrow even though both extremes appear on the list. Acidity averages a little above medium and body a little below it, which means the cups tend to read bright without much weight behind them.

Processing drives the range more than roast level does. Seven fermented lots against four washed ones means the gap between two bags at the same roast level can be wider than the gap between two roast levels. Prices run from $21 to $96 at the 12-ounce size, with a median of $26. The high end belongs to a handful of scarce lots. Most of the catalog sits near the median.

What Black and White Roasters Coffees Tend to Taste Like

Milk chocolate is the most common note in the catalog, named on six coffees, and it works as the base that other flavors sit on top of. Above it comes stone and tropical fruit. Peach and cherry recur, black cherry alongside plain cherry, while pineapple and lychee bring a sweeter and more perfumed kind of fruit that usually traces back to a fermented lot.

Floral and tea notes fill the rest. Cherry blossom and black tea each show up twice, which suits the light body the averages report. Citrus appears, though it does less work than the stone fruit does. What you are unlikely to find is a note like smoke or ash. Even at medium-dark, the flavor descriptions stay with sweetness and fruit.

Why Buy Black and White Roasters

• Fermentation as house style: Seven of 12 single origins are anaerobic or fermented, which is why the fruit notes run toward lychee and pineapple rather than lemon and apple.

• Colombia in depth: Eight single origins from one country give a drinker a way to taste how processing changes a cup while the growing country stays fixed.

• Roasted to keep the fruit: Nine of the 19 active coffees are medium-light, so processing character reaches the cup intact. CoffeeByMe surfaces the roaster for drinkers who want that.

• Milk chocolate underneath: The most repeated note in the catalog is milk chocolate, named on six coffees, which keeps even the loudest fermented lots anchored to something familiar.

Is Black and White Roasters Right for You?

A drinker curious about fermented coffee has a clear reason to start here, since seven of the 12 single origins use anaerobic or fermented processing and the notes that follow, lychee and pineapple among them, are what that processing tends to produce. The medium-light center of the roast range means those flavors arrive without much roast character over them.

The concentration is the catch. Eight of 12 singles are Colombian, so a shopper who wants to work through East African or Indonesian coffee will find the shelf short. Anyone who prefers a heavy, syrupy cup should also look elsewhere, because body averages below medium across the catalog. Two decafs are stocked for households that need them.

Frequently Asked Questions