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VELA

Preparing the pour

VELA COFFEE ROASTERS

Slow down.

Pour well.

TWELVE FARMS · DIRECT TRADE

Grown by hands

we know by name.

ROASTED THURSDAYS · SHIPPED IN 48 HOURS

From our roaster

to your ritual.

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Direct trade, alwaysSmall-batch roasted weekly86+ average cup scoreRoast-to-door in 48 hours12 partner farms, 3 continentsWhole bean, never rushedDirect trade, alwaysSmall-batch roasted weekly86+ average cup scoreRoast-to-door in 48 hours12 partner farms, 3 continentsWhole bean, never rushed

The Roasts

Three roasts. Zero filler.

We keep the lineup short on purpose — every bag gets cupped, re-cupped, and roasted the same week it ships. When a lot stops tasting like itself, we retire it.

Best Seller

FIRST LIGHT

$18

Breakfast Blend · Honduras + Brazil

A gentle wake-up. Comayagua and Mogiana lots roasted to a soft medium — built for the first quiet cup before the house stirs.

Milk chocolateToasted hazelnutBrown sugar

Add to bag — $18

Single Origin

MERIDIAN

$22

Single Origin · Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia

A washed heirloom lot from the Alemu family's washing station at 2,050 meters. Bright, floral, and the reason we got into this.

ApricotBergamotHoneysuckle

Add to bag — $22

Dark Roast

NIGHT SHIFT

$19

Dark Roast · Sumatra + Guatemala

Roasted past second crack into deep, syrupy territory — for late deadlines, early alarms, and coffee with conviction.

Dark cocoaMolassesSmoked cedar

Add to bag — $19

The Four-Minute Ritual

Brewing, the VELA way.

One dripper, one kettle, four minutes you don't give to anything else. Here's the pour-over we run on every cupping table in the roastery.

0:30

Bloom

Twice the water to coffee — forty grams over twenty — then wait. Trapped carbon dioxide escapes, the bed swells, and the coffee opens up. Thirty seconds of patience buys you the whole cup.

1:10

Pour

Spiral from the center outward, slow and even, keeping the bed level. You're not filling a cup; you're keeping a conversation going. Let the water do the talking.

2:45

Draw down

The slurry settles into a flat, even bed. If the last drop falls near two forty-five, your grind is dialed. If it races or stalls, adjust one click and try again tomorrow.

3:00+

Sip

Give it two minutes off the boil before the first sip. Sweetness sharpens as the cup cools — taste it change. That apricot note at the end? That's the farm talking.

Partner farms

Average cup score

Roast to door

Direct trade

Terraced coffee farms above the Gera highlands, Ethiopia

Our Farms

Two thousand meters up, coffee slows down.

At elevation, cherries ripen over months instead of weeks — and the cup gets sweeter for the wait. We've worked with the Alemu family's washing station in Yirgacheffe since 2019, and eleven more farms like it across Ethiopia, Honduras, Guatemala, Sumatra, and Brazil.

Every contract is signed at the farm gate, in person, at an average of 2.4× the commodity price. No brokers, no blending desks, no anonymous lots. When a coffee scores 86 or better on our table, the farm hears about it before our customers do.

“Good coffee is grown, not roasted. We just try not to get in its way.”
— Mara Vela, founder & head roaster

Meet the farms