Why We Started Roasting Our Own Coffee at Casaroma Cafe
When we first opened our Dominican coffee shop in New Rochelle, roasting wasn’t part of the plan. Our focus was curating coffee from trusted roasters and creating a space that celebrated culture, community, and collaboration.
At Casaroma Cafe, a specialty coffee shop rooted in New Rochelle and proudly serving New York, we’ve always focused on building community through quality coffee. About a month ago, we released our first house-roasted coffee, Palma, and the most common question we hear is:
“What made you decide to roast your own coffee?”
So here’s the story behind our journey into coffee roasting, and what this shift means for us, and for you.
From Serving to Roasting: The Evolution of Casaroma Cafe
When we first opened our Dominican coffee shop in New Rochelle, roasting wasn’t part of the plan. Our focus was curating coffee from trusted roasters and creating a space that celebrated culture, community, and collaboration.
That changed in late 2024, when I started noticing the rising cost of coffee and began exploring how roasting could offer more control, sustainability, and long-term value. I dove into books like Dear Coffee Buyer by Ryan Brown and The Coffee Roaster's Companion by Scott Rao. I followed roasters online, reached out for guidance, and found myself deeply intrigued by the craft.
In January, I took a course at Coffee Project NY and soon after found Multimodal in Queens, where I could practice roasting hands-on. With their support, we began roasting, cupping and testing beans from all over the world, eventually selecting two origins that mean a lot to us: Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. This was also a great opportunity to further highlight Yari's deep connection to her homeland.
Why We Chose to Roast Our Own Coffee
A Deepening Passion for Coffee
Once I started learning, I was hooked. Roasting let me explore the unique flavors of different origins, each roast telling a story of place, climate, and culture. The process of drawing out those flavors felt like both art and science.
Cost Control and Sustainability
With green coffee prices rising, roasting in-house gives us more stability. As we grow our roasting operation, we hope to better manage costs and reduce the need for frequent price increases, this will help us stay accessible while maintaining quality.
Growth Opportunities for Our Team
Our baristas are incredibly talented, and we want to offer them more than just a job, we want to offer a coffee career. That’s why we’ve started training some of them on roasting. In the future, this can evolve into roles in sales, marketing, and production, all within Casaroma Cafe.
Creative and Operational Control
Roasting gives us full control over quality and scheduling. We can adjust roast profiles, create new blends, and craft each bag of coffee to match our flavor vision. Best of all, our customers trust our taste and trust that we won’t release anything we don’t believe in.
Respect for the Roasters Who Helped Us Grow
We want to give a huge thank you to Coffee Labs Roasters and Antillas Coffee, two partners who provided excellent beans and support early in our journey. Their role in our success won’t be forgotten and we remain grateful for everything they’ve done to help us get here.
Introducing Palma: A Dominican Coffee with Purpose
Our first release, Palma, is more than a coffee, it’s a tribute to heritage, craftsmanship, and the Dominican roots that inspire everything we do. You can now find Palma at Casaroma Cafe, available in-store and online.
Visit Our Specialty Coffee Shop in New York
Whether you’re a long-time customer or just discovering us, we invite you to taste what roasting means to us. Stop by Casaroma Cafe, your go-to Dominican Specialty Coffee Shop in New York, and experience our newest house-roasted blend for yourself.
Written by: Kevin Rucker