Troubadour Coffee Roasters

The story behind every cup.

Coffee does not begin at the roaster. It begins with the people who grow it, the place it comes from, and the decisions made long before it reaches Cleveland.

Explore our coffees

Founded by Tony DiCorpo, Troubadour is an independent coffee roastery, shop, and training space built around one idea: let excellent coffee show you what it can be.

Tony DiCorpo, founder of Troubadour Coffee Roasters

More than twenty years in coffee

Curiosity became a life’s work.

Troubadour began at local farmers markets with a simple idea: focus on the bean. From the beginning, we pursued quality, worked with exceptional coffees, and appreciated the character of each origin and farm much as people appreciate fine wine.

Over time, that work grew into a roastery built around carefully sourced coffees and relationships with growers who share the same commitment to quality. Tony’s experience now spans roasting, green-coffee sourcing and importing, and the daily reality of building and operating an independent coffee business.

You do not need to arrive knowing the language of specialty coffee. Curiosity is enough. Tell us what you enjoy, ask a question, and we will help you find your way into the cup.

From origin to understanding

The work is connected.

What happens at the farm affects what is possible at the roaster. What happens at the roaster affects what you taste. And what you understand about that cup changes how you brew the next one.

Meet the source

Learn how place, variety, growing conditions, harvest, and processing shape the coffee before roasting begins.

Choose with purpose

Select coffees for their quality, clarity, sweetness, and individual character—not simply to fill a spot on a menu.

Roast for the coffee

Develop each roast to reveal what is naturally present in the bean rather than burying it beneath roast flavor.

Share what we know

Turn experience into practical recommendations, brewing help, and hands-on classes for curious home and professional baristas.

Tony visiting Finca El Guayabo coffee farm in El Salvador — Tony visiting Finca El Guayabo in El Salvador.

Coffee is agricultural

The people and place matter.

A coffee’s flavor is the result of countless decisions at origin: what is planted, when cherries are picked, how they are processed, and how carefully the coffee is prepared for export.

We pay above fair price for our coffees and work directly with growers whenever possible so more of the value goes back to the farms. Quality, long-term relationships, and responsible farming matter more to us than the commodity market.

Those connections give us the context to roast more thoughtfully, speak honestly about each coffee, and connect the flavor in your cup with the work that produced it.

Tony roasting coffee at Troubadour Coffee Roasters

Roasted in small batches

Roasting reveals what makes each coffee worth choosing.

We approach each coffee on its own terms, developing the sweetness, balance, aroma, acidity, and flavor that give it a character of its own.

Distinct coffees selected for clarity and character
Small-batch roasting with attention to each lot
Flavor descriptions meant to help you choose
Practical brewing guidance when you need it

Why we don’t roast dark

We roast so the coffee still tastes like itself.

Every coffee arrives with a character shaped by its variety, where it grew, the people who grew it, and how it was processed. That is what makes a coffee worth choosing in the first place.

Roasting develops sweetness, aroma, body, and structure. As roasting goes further, perceived acidity and origin-specific flavors recede while roast-driven body and bitterness increase. Different coffees begin to taste more alike.

We stop before that point. Tony generally roasts light to light-plus, developing sweetness, richness, and balance while keeping the coffee’s identity present in the cup. We protect those origin flavors because they are why we sourced the coffee in the first place.

“I don’t want to choose a remarkable coffee and then roast away the reason I chose it.”
— Tony DiCorpo

Usually drink dark roast?

There is nothing wrong with dark roast if that is what you prefer. Tell us what you enjoy about it—richness, body, deep roast notes, lower perceived acidity, or a coffee that holds up in milk. We can help you find a whole-bean coffee that fits, and perhaps one you will enjoy black. Really.

Explore our coffees

What customers remember

The care is visible in the cup.

“It is evident by both the quality of the coffee, and the pictures that they operate the business with genuine passion.”
William DrocktonGoogle review

“Not only do they custom pour over brew every order, but I also received great information about what makes their beans so unique and delicious.”
Justin EschmanGoogle review

Experience worth sharing

What we learn, we teach.

The same experience used to source, roast, brew, and run Troubadour shapes our classes and consulting. The goal is practical understanding you can use—at your kitchen counter, behind a professional bar, or while planning a coffee business.

Home Pour OverBuild a simple, repeatable brewing method and learn how your choices change flavor. Home EspressoDial in shots, texture milk, and replace guesswork with a routine you understand. Professional Barista TrainingDevelop coffee fundamentals, commercial equipment skills, and practical bar workflow. Coffee Shop ConsultingApply Tony’s experience to planning, equipment, workflow, operations, and private training.

Taste what coffee can be