This Sarasota Roaster Won't Touch Your Beans Until You Order Them

Here is the résumé that matters. Before he started Black Circle Coffee Roasters, founder Brian Nagy spent nearly 20 years running supply chain and operations for Starbucks, Hershey and Chewy. Then, per his own homepage, he "got tired of buying coffee past its prime."

The man moved coffee for a living and decided the problem was the moving!

So his fix is wonderfully stubborn: nothing gets roasted until you order it. Every bag is roasted in small batches in Sarasota after you hit checkout, then shipped straight from the roastery "so every bag lands fresh." No shelf. No warehouse nap. Your beans don't exist as roasted coffee until you personally ask for them, which is the most main-character thing a bag of coffee can do.

It's a record store that sells coffee

The name is a vinyl record, and they commit to the bit all the way down. The fan favorites live in a collection called Greatest Hits, described as "chart-topping roasts" that "stay in heavy rotation." The Roaster's Sampler 4-Pack ($23.95, four 4-ounce bags) is pitched as your "all-access pass," running "from bright, acoustic origins to bold, amplified blends." The coffees in it rotate with what's fresh, so it's basically a mixtape somebody else makes for you.

There's even a line on the site that should be printed on every coffee bar menu in town: "Coffee shouldn't be pretentious or intimidating." Thank you! Nobody needs a lecture before 8 a.m.

The tracklist

Most 12-ounce bags are $18.95, with 5-pound bags for the households that measure coffee in shifts.

• Poroto Gold, the newest one on the shelf: a dark roast from Utengule Estates in Tanzania with notes of strawberry, honey and red grape. Dark roast with fruit on it. Love a plot twist.
• Rift Valley from Kenya, which they call a customer favorite, smooth with a hint of chocolate, and good brewed, as espresso or as cold brew. In October in Sarasota, cold brew is not a seasonal decision.
• Chachalaca ($20.95) from Costa Rica's Tarrazú region, named after the bird known for waking up the rainforest every day. Finally, a coffee with a job description.
• Sonata Sol from Chiapas, Mexico, grown at 1,200 to 1,750 meters in volcanic soil. Bradenton's highest point would like a word.
• Andean Aura, an organic Colombian dark roast from Cauca that they picked after testing lot after lot for citrus.
• Yirgacheffe, a medium roast from Ethiopia, whose entire product description begins: "It is coffee perfection. No need to call this anything other than what it is." No notes. Honestly, same.

How to get it

It's an online shop: you order, they roast, they ship. If you're the "can't decide" type, start with the sampler. If you're buying a gift, the homepage had a limited Greatest Hits box this morning, three 12-ounce single-origin bags plus a matte-black tumbler for $79 with free shipping, and it said only 16 were available. There's also an 18-ounce mug ($14.99), which is the right size for anyone who has ever said "just a cup."

They post the new roasts on Instagram at @blackcirclecoffee.

Got the coffee handled and need a plan? Brooke has this week outdoors, Sandy has the week ahead and the meetups, and the costumes are in the Halloween Finder.

Flip it over. Play the B-side. Order the second bag.

— Marina