Lexington Micro-Roastery Offering Metaphorical High-End Pastries

Schuyler Warren, the co-owner of Magic Beans, a new micro roasting company in Lexington, Kentucky, isn’t taking away your Twinkies.

Photo @ magicbeanscoffee.com

“We believe when people taste a cup of freshly roasted coffee, that their eyes are opened,” Warren, who owns the roastery along with business partner Keith Hautala, recently told Business Lexington. “It’s like the difference between eating Twinkies and a cake from a pastry chef. Both have a place in the world, and we’re not trying to tell people they shouldn’t eat Twinkies. We just think that if they are interested in a more exceptional, fresh product, we have the answer for them.”

Between working day jobs, Warren and Hautala are roasting small batches of single-origin, ethically sourced coffees in a 38-pound-capacity Sivetz roaster inside a 324-square-foot Lexington warehouse space. The company is offering direct sales through its website, subscription programs, and it hopes to soon begin selling to retailers and restaurants.

“We want to offer some distinctive and unusual coffees not often seen in Central Kentucky — exquisite single-farm coffees, rare micro-lot offerings and new coffees from emerging producers,” the owners declare on their website, adding that they are strictly a micro-roastery, not a retail operation. “The studio model is a whole new concept in micro-roasting. We aren’t a coffee shop. We don’t sell lattes. We don’t have seating. In fact, we don’t even have regular hours. The only time we turn the lights on is when we’re roasting coffee.”

For more: Business Lexington