What makes the Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company™ so different from other brands?

The Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company™ is more than just another coffee company. Aside from making excellent coffees, we uphold a commitment to our other passion, the Chesapeake Bay. We do so by volunteering our time and services to community events focused on watershed restoration. We also pledge a percentage of our product sales to specific causes that are directly impacting the bay's water quality.

What organizations do you contribute to?

To date we have been slowly building our identity in the market and have worked with some organizations that are in our own backyard. We have learned a lot from our friends over at the South River Federation and hope to continue to build up our network of community leaders. We have participated in some events hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and look forward to working with them on future events.

What percentage of profit goes to the bay?

3-5% on all coffees that support specific restoration projects and 100% of the profits generated on all branded merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs, etc.

How do you guarantee consistency?
We take extreme measurers to combine both the Art & Science of coffee roasting.

•  Hands on relationship with Brokers

•  Spot checking our green shipments

•  Sample roasting

•  Cupping

•  Gentle Air handling system for pre and post roasted coffees

•  Moisture content control holding silos

•  Quantik color analyzer

•  PLC controlled blending system

•  Air/drum air roasting

•  Nitrogen Flush and vacuum packing

Do you sell shade-grown and/or organic coffees?

Yes. Our current offerings can be found through the products link from our home page. Each coffee that is certified 'Shade Grown' is marked with an indicator symbol like this one: on the right hand margin of the product description.

Do you sell any Fair Trade coffees?

Yes. Our current offerings can be found through the products link from our home page. Each coffee that is certified 'Fair Trade' is marked with an indicator symbol like this one: on the right hand margin of the product description.

How should I store my coffee?

Storage is just one of the many variables that can impact the taste and overall experience you might have when you drink a cup of coffee. We take an extreme amount of steps to ensure that our coffees reach you at the very peak of freshness. From the moment a bag of coffee is opened the coffee starts to loose some of its aromas and flavor characteristics. Our Resources page will explain, in detail, all of the care and handling steps you should take to make certain that your cup of coffee is the exhilarating experience our roastmaster intends it to be for each person who drinks Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company™ coffees.

Do you sell flavored coffees?

Our flavored coffees are made up of rich blend of Central American and South American Arabica coffees delicately intermingled with the essence of popular flavors such as Hazelnut and French Vanilla.

What is your darkest or most full-bodied coffee?

Our French roast is one of the darkest coffees we offer by the degree of color we roast it to however, additional coffees we might recommend for a full-bodied experience might be our intensely smoky organic Bolivian or our spicy Sumatran that cups out to be a very bold and rich experience. Please take a moment to read through our entire coffee product line to explore the wide variety of coffees we have to offer.

Where can I purchase your coffees?

We have a foodservice/wholesale line that can be found by the cup or by the bag in many establishments within the Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Delaware regions. There is also an online store that has retail products available and ready to ship to your home or business.

What are your signature coffees?

Our specialty blends are what we consider to be our premier or what is sometimes referred to as 'Signature Coffees'.

Do you have blends and single origins that are 100% Arabica?

Each one of our coffees is 100% certified, Specialty-Grade Arabica beans from various growing regions through out the world.

My shop is not anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay, so I do not think my customers will care about the bay,
why should I?

Everyone in the Mid-Atlantic region is familiar with the condition of the Bay. The region itself is much larger than most think; the Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches from as far south as the border of North Carolina, as far west as the Appalachians that reach as far out as West Virginia and as far north as up-state New York. Even if you do not live directly in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, water quality and pollution is a problem facing us all. Why not give something back and support the region's ecosystem and start promoting sustainable communities in your own backyard?

What type of roaster do you use?

Our coffees are roasted in a hybrid roaster, the Sirocco SR35, which combines the very best of traditional drum and conventional air roasting technology. This roaster actually co-generates its own energy by recycling the chaff and burning it off as fuel.

What is your decaffeination process?

Currently, our blends use the traditional Methylene Chloride decaffeination process.  We are carrying a Swiss Water Brazilian coffee and plan to begin researching what we feel will be a more promising CO2 processed bean.  Our experience has been that the Methylene Chloride results in the best overall taste profile, and that the Swiss Water decafs tend to be bland and lacking of dimension.  Further, contrary to what the name implies, the Swiss Water process is not an entirely chemical-free process.  The up and coming CO2 process appears to be the "best of both worlds," but is very limited in availability. 

How is your coffee packaged? How long does coffee stay fresh?

Currently our coffees are available in 5 lb. and 8 oz. vacuum sealed and nitrogen flushed airtight valve bags. Nitrogen flushing is an added step we take to ensure our coffees stay fresher for a longer period of time and arrive to our customers at the very peak levels of freshness. It is our goal to have all of our coffees roasted and consumed within no more than a two week period.