In the spring of 2014 we opened a single café on Washington Street with a 5-kilo roaster shoved into the back room and three blends to start. We didn't plan a chain. We just kept getting asked when we were coming to the next town over.

Twelve years on, we still roast every bag in that same Hoboken room. The roaster is bigger; the rule about Mondays hasn't changed. Five cafés now — Hoboken, Jersey City, Montclair, Princeton, Asbury Park — and a shelf of eight coffees that ships before it cools.