Roastology Reimagined in Richmond with New Roastery and Cafe

At the new Roastology roastery and cafe in Richmond, Virginia. All images courtesy of Roastology.

Richmond, Virginia-based Roastology is diving deeper into the sweet science of coffee with a new roastery and cafe in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood.

While smaller overall than Roastology’s original roastery cafe, which closed last year about a mile away, the new 2,590-square-foot facility allows for approximately twice as much roasting production space.

The new shop also forgoes an onsite bakery, although pastries and other treats are delivered fresh from nearby businesses. 

“The new shop is in a former warehouse district with a lot of offices and apartment buildings, meaning we largely cater to those on the move looking to grab a coffee before work or stopping in to grab a few bags to brew at the office or home,” Roastology Wholesale Coordinator Christian Doswell told Daily Coffee News.

With baking no longer an in-house concern, Doswell said the coffee company can focus even more intently on its drink program, including more house-made syrups and creative recipes. 

“We of course will be continuing to serve our rotating seasonal drinks behind bar,” said Doswell. “We currently have a rosemary and clove latte which has been super popular this winter.”

A palette of pastel blues, yellows and natural birch plywood seizes the abundant natural light that streams into the cafe, with a La Marzocco KB90 espresso machine providing a vibrant pop of red.

“We’re really proud that a lot of the buildout we did ourselves, which especially helps with bar flow — designed and built by baristas for baristas,” said Doswell. “We’ve upgraded some glassware and added little touches here and there to make everything cohesive.”

The espresso machine and drip coffee equipment are hooked up to a new reverse osmosis water treatment system.

“We worked alongside Kinetico Advance Water Systems to build a system custom to our cafe needs,” Doswell said. “This ensures our water is purified of contaminants, with the ideal pH balance and precise mineral content added back in, providing the perfect foundation for any extraction method.”

Led by Roastology Lead Roaster Sophia Jackson, roasting takes place in full view of customers through interior windows, with a 30-kilo-capacity Coffee-Tech Engineering Ghibli R30 at the core. 

An Ikawa Pro100 sample roaster is part of the equipment lineup inside the company’s new dedicated cupping room, which Jackson said is designed to benefit wholesale clients, promote staff involvement and streamline quality control.

“Starting from scratch with a large open space, we were able to lay out the new roasting facility to best utilize our current equipment and create a better flow,” said Jackson. “The new manufacturing space features expanded storage for green coffee, enabling us to more responsibly source many of our specialty single origin coffees from smaller farms.”

In the year to come, Roastology aims to expand both its wholesale and its retail operations and sales programs.

“We are extremely proud of the coffee that we are roasting and want to share it with as many people as possible, locally and across the US,” said Doswell.

Roastology is located at 3015 West Clay Street in Richmond. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter. 

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