Jamie Colbourne, CEO of Tully's Coffee, chats with roaster Celeste Clark during one of his daily visits to the roasting room. Colbourne's two months at Tully's, with its neighborhood concept, has made him try harder. Less than six months ago, Tully's moved its roasting operation to the old brewery. Up a narrow, winding staircase, rooms are filled with thick burlap sacks bulging with green coffee beans. Another flight of winding concrete stairs opens to a room of steel coffee roasters churning thousands of pounds of crackling beans.
Next door is another, quieter room, filled with a row of long-empty beer vats.
Through the glass windows in the roasting machines, roaster R.J. Selfridge watches the beans tossing in the 400-plus degree heat. The green beans grow tan, then dark brown in a matter of minutes. Selfridge listens for the beans to pop, then pop again. He pulls a small metal scoop of steaming beans from the roaster, quickly checking the color before returning the beans to the cooker and pulling out another scoop. Selfridge moves among the roasting machines, checking the beans.