Larry’s Beans

Local Roasteries, Part 2

Larry’s Beans has recently started to offer more tours of their Raleigh facility, and hubs and I were lucky enough to score a spot on the most recent tour on October 23. Larry mentioned it would be the last tour of the year until April or so. The roastery and offices are located in Five Points, down a quiet gravel drive in a small industrial area. We’re each handed a name tag as we enter and allowed to serve ourselves coffee. We mingled in the main courtyard and listened to some neat music from the Magnolia Klezmer Quartet. In the first picture below you can see Larry himself, sporting curly locks and a white collared shirt and jacket. The second photo shows hubs and baby D, mingling.

The first portion of the tour was hosted by Kevin, one of the owners of Larry’s Beans, who showed us the biodiesel fuel station, the rainwater collection and composting systems, and a bunch of other modifications and innovations they’ve used on the buildings in order to be eco-friendly.

Then we took a break to have some vegetarian munchies like falafel, veggies, hummus and pita pizza slices, which were tasty. There was also a keg of local beer, and these eats and drinks were all free!

The next portion of the tour was led by Larry, where he showed us the roasting facilities, starting with instruction on how to cup coffee from the head roast master, Brad. Unfortunately at this point our baby was cranky and we had to skidaddle, so we missed the remaining part of the tour.

I’d recommend the tour if you are curious about coffee or how you can become more eco-friendly. The changes and updates they made to their facilities are inspiring to hear about, and make you realize that it only takes a little creativity and ingenuity to do things a little greener.

View Larger Map