Charlotte’s Pure Intentions Coffee Loyal to Wholesale with Huge New Roastery

The new Probat roaster inside the Pure Intentions Coffee headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. All images courtesy of Pure Intentions Coffee.

Expanding its unadulterated pursuit of quality wholesale coffee and service in and around North Carolina, Pure Intentions Coffee recently inaugurated a 16,000-square-foot production headquarters in southwest Charlotte.

A brand new 60-kilo-capacity Probat P60 roaster is the primary engine inside the new roastery, which sits a stone’s throw from the South Carolina state line. The company’s existing 35-kilo U.S. Roaster Corp machine sits alongside the Probat in the approximately 3,500-square-foot production roasting space. 

The 35-kilo US Roaster Corp machine.

Additional spaces are allotted for packaging roasted coffees, cold brew production and canning, shipping and receiving, and storage of dry goods. Roughly 4,500 square feet of space is reserved for offices, the reception area and a training and cupping lab. 

As it grows into its new home, Pure Intentions also bids a fond adieu to its previous production headquarters in an industrial area north of downtown Charlotte.

A cold brew production area.

“The old facility was a bit of a patchwork building that we made work for what we needed at the time,” Pure Intentions Founder Matt Yarmey told DCN. “Our new space is a relatively new building built for manufacturing and significantly more well suited to our needs. It’s not only an upgrade in space but also in efficiency and purpose.”

In the training and cupping lab, longtime Pure Intentions Head Roaster and Director of Coffee Matt While leads the evaluation of samples, working towards crowd-pleasing but still interesting offerings, with green coffees coming from importers such as Hacienda La Minita, Volcafe and Crop to Cup.

Inside the cupping lab.

“We don’t play too much in the extremes of coffee flavor notes,” Yarmey said of the coffee program. “Most of our roasting ethos is to understand what the bulk of coffee drinkers enjoy about coffee and create that experience in as high a quality and complex a profile as we can.”

Yarmey said the sole focus of Pure Intentions will continue to be its wholesale roasting business. The company does not intend to host public programming at the new facility, nor does it operate cafes of its own. 

Baristas working for wholesale clients of Pure Intentions receive free training in the roaster’s “skills campus,” which now includes a Nuova Simonelli Black Eagle espresso machine, a Marco SP9 pourover module, drip coffee makers of various sizes and more specialized cafe equipment. 

“Our entire business is dependent on other café, restaurant, and grocery store owners trusting us and our abilities,” Yarmey said. “I’ve always believed that this makes us laser-focused on doing the right thing for our customers, staying nimble and competitive to remain relevant and service-focused to keep revenue flowing.”

Previously a director in risk advisory services for a Charlotte-based consulting group, Yarmey founded Pure Intentions in 2011 with a half-pound-capacity Gene Café air roaster in his apartment. One year later his batch capacity grew to 12 pounds with an Ambex roaster in a 900-square-foot industrial garage.

“It’s been incredible to experience the growth we’ve seen in the last 13 years,” said Yarmey. “October 18 is our 13th birthday, and to now be occupying a space that feels like we can continue that growth gives us that much more confidence in our future.”

Pure Intentions Coffee Founder Matt Yarmey.

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