About Us
Who We Are
First and foremost, River Bottom Roasters is a family. We’re coffee lovers, just like you, who care about quality ingredients, ethical sourcing, fairness in trade and giving back to our communities. We don’t just want to make super delicious coffee, we want to make a difference in our local and international communities. If that’s you, too, pour yourself a cup and stay awhile!
Our Founder
Craig Campbell
How it all began…A word from our founder:
“I’m a traveler and love the journey. I have tasted some stellar food and drink but I’ll never forget the first sip of specialty coffee. I stumbled upon a small coffee roaster/cafe thinking I would just order a cup of coffee. I took my first sip, and I swear, the world tilted. I had been drinking coffee my entire adult life, yet I felt as if I’d never tasted it before! This was how coffee was supposed to taste! Then and there, with the smell of roasting beans in the air, and that perfect cup balanced in my hands, my passion for small batch specialty coffee was born.
An Unexpected Change…
I found myself thinking more and more about that day and I had to know more! I began researching coffee, learning everything I could about beans from different parts of the world: how different altitudes, soils, exposures and climates affect the flavor. I learned about roasting and how roasters use different rhythms and timing of elements to put their unique stamp of flavor on the coffees. Then, I did what I had been destined to do since I took that first sip – I bought my own roaster and went to work learning how to turn green coffee beans into a perfect cup of coffee.
I worked hard! Whether I was reading from a book, working one-on-one with a master roaster, or trying new roasting profiles on my own, I was doing what I loved and soaking up knowledge. After a time, I started giving sample bags to my family and friends, asking for feedback – they couldn’t get enough! When it got to the point where I wasn’t roasting enough coffee to keep everyone satisfied, I knew it was time to take this to the next level, and River Bottom Roasters was born!
Today, I am so proud of the craft specialty coffees we offer. When you pour a cup of River Bottom coffee, I hope you taste all the love, heart and soul I put into each small batch. (Yep – We still hand roast each batch!) This is coffee the way it’s supposed to be. My name is Craig Campbell, and I believe great coffee can change the world! Pour yourself a cup, and see if you don’t agree!”
What We Think
Here at River Bottom Roasters, we have ideas. We think running a business is about more than just turning a profit, and we believe everyone deserves a chance to thrive. From our commitment to sourcing ethically, eco friendly, community driven, and fair trade beans to our partnerships with local charities like the Boys & Girls Club, these ideas govern everything we do. Call us radicals, but we think doing good is simply good business!
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Why does Ethical Sourcing and Fairness in Trade Matter to Us?
Coffee is a huge international commodity, and its popularity is only growing. During my mission and humanitarian work in South America I found that as the worldwide demand for coffee increases, we have seen an alarming increase in forced labor, child labor, and farmers paid non-livable wages for their work. Worldwide demand for lower coffee prices has forced many farmers to abandon the environmentally sustainable practice of shade-growing to become sun-grown farms, simultaneously destroying native animal habitats, increasing the need for dangerous chemical pesticides and depleting the nutrients in the soil.
It has to stop! We can make a difference!
At River Bottom Roasters, we are able to support the farmers in regions where I worked in the mission fields of South America. RBR never buys coffee off a commodity trading floor, rather we work with people in the regions where we source our coffee and we pay them a fair, livable wage for their hard work. Without their knowledge, skill and expertise, River Bottom coffee wouldn’t have that rich, smooth taste our customers have come to expect – you can’t roast perfection out of a sub-par bean, after all! Our farmers are truly our partners, and we treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.