From Massachusetts, Wavelength Coffee Signals Sustainability

Inside the new Wavelength Coffee Roasters headquarters in Shirley, Massachusetts. All images courtesy of Wavelength Coffee Roasters.

A new coffee roasting company in Shirley, Massachusetts, called Wavelength Coffee is launching this week with a progressive approach to sustainability that extends through roastery operations, green coffee sourcing and consumer awareness. 

With an electric Air-Motion Roasters machine, steel can packaging, a recycling program for its plastic green coffee sack liners and nearly half of its energy drawn directly from solar power, the company is striving to minimize the environmental footprint at home. 

Meanwhile, on coffee labels color-coded by origin, additional logos signify which of the company’s five positive social or environmental impact categories the coffees inside reflect.

Coffees bearing a “Future Farmers” logo are sourced are produced by groups doing something to promote youth leadership or women-led farms. The “New Varietals” stamp indicates a coffee cultivar bred for climate resiliency.

An “Adaptive Agriculture” icon is applied to coffee grown by producers with some sort of commitment to environmental stewardship such as agroforestry, regenerative agriculture or water conservation. 

Coffees from countries that are not widely recognized as major coffee producers are packaged with an “Emerging Origins” label, and the “Community Initiatives” logo indicates that a portion of proceeds supports programs aimed at improving the standard of living for communities where the coffee was grown.

To find these coffees, Wavelength leaned on importers including Unblended Coffee, Sucafina, Hacienda La Minita and one limited U.S.-grown offering from the California Coffee Collective. A Burundian coffee will soon arrive via JNP Coffees, and later this fall an El Salvador-grown coffee sourced directly from producer Carlos Pola will arrive.

“It might seem strange for a new roaster with only a handful of coffees to use so many different importers, but for us it was a byproduct of our desire to showcase the range of approaches being used to adapt coffee to the realities of the 21st century,” Wavelength Coffee Co-Founder Jim Varney told Daily Coffee News.

The company’s six-kilo-capacity Air Motion Roasters AMR-6 roaster and Oktober coffee can seamer live within a 5,000-square-foot space at Phoenix Park, an old mill complex that has been converted for commercial and industrial use. The facility features a vast array of solar panels on its roof, as well as ground-mounted arrays adjacent to the roastery. Phoenix Park also purchases power from a community solar array to augment the onsite output.

“It’s hard to say exactly, but with the onsite arrays, community solar and our local energy grid taken into account, we estimate about 35-50% of our electricity comes from renewables,” said Varney.

Owners Jim and Deanna Varney come to coffee from backgrounds in design and engineering, and research and education, respectively. Previously the co-owner and CEO of a consulting firm called Product Insight, Jim Varney continued to consult for climate tech startups while Wavelength was in its early development stages and has since shifted 100% of his attention to the coffee business.

“After my partner and I sold the company in 2024, I knew that I wanted to focus on sustainability in some capacity, ideally in a way that was approachable and connected to daily life,” Varney told DCN. “It became clear that this was where my passion was heading.”

Deanna Varney, whose master’s degree is in information and library science, planted the seed for coffee to be the couple’s shared enterprise. 

“Although running a coffee roastery is new for both of us, her professional experience has helped us find resources, build relationships and navigate the regulatory landscape as we have built this business together,” Jim Varney said.

Jim briefly worked at a coffee shop in college and more recently began roasting with an Aillio Bullet. He also took a roasting and cupping course at Coffee Lab International in Waterbury, Vermont.

“A lot of what we learned about roasting and sourcing came from research and reaching out to companies we thought were doing interesting things and having conversations with them,” said Varney. “We also found that the importers and producers we contacted were excited to talk with us about their social and environmental initiatives and have been super supportive of us and our mission.”

To celebrate its grand opening, Wavelength is opening up the roastery for tours, cuppings and other events, while also participating in local community events outside of the roastery.

“We are working on setting up some initial customers at this moment,” said Varney. “We also have new coffees already in the works for the Fall from some very exciting producers that are doing amazing work in their communities and farms.”

Wavelength Coffee is located at Phoenix Park, Building H, 2 Shaker Road, Suite H100, in Shirley, Massachusetts.

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