Q&A with James Munson, Founder, Brooklyn Roasting Company (www.brooklynroasting.com), Brooklyn, N.Y.
What is the Brooklyn Roasting Company and what is its connection to Brooklyn’s historic DUMBO neighborhood?
I founded the Brooklyn Roasting Company in 2009 following long stints in New York’s beer and coffee industries, first with the Brooklyn Brewery and then with Dallis Bros. Coffee. My main interest was in establishing a Brooklyn-based brand focused on high-quality, sustainably sourced coffees. By great fortune, our DUMBO headquarters once housed part of the historic Arbuckle brothers’ coffee and sugar refining empire. Today, we operate four cafes in Brooklyn and Manhattan, with two more in the works, while our recent partnership with JetBlue’s business class Mint cabin has literally taken our espresso to unimagined heights.
What makes New York a great beverage city?
New York loves beer and coffee, with Brooklyn historically supplying the city with the best of both. That’s truer than ever today, with businesses like the Brooklyn Brewery and the Brooklyn Roasting Company leading the charge, and Brooklyn’s revival as a food and beverage mecca only fueling advancements in quality.
My Brooklyn Brewery experience taught me how valuable launching a quintessentially American-brewed beverage in New York City can be. We recently introduced nitrogen-infused cold-brewed iced coffee, one example of stepping up the coffee game by making a centuries-old beverage more delicious than ever.
How can groups experience the Brooklyn Roasting Company?
Along with catering hundreds of area organizations and institutions, and welcoming guests to our DUMBO flagship, new Art Moderne-style store in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, and other locations, we are also strongly interested in educating consumers about what makes our Brooklyn-roasted coffee so special. Interested groups can e-mail events@brooklynroasting.com for tour information.