Gigawatt Coffee Roasters
BENSENVILLE, IL — When Eli and Jen Coleman launched Gigawatt Coffee Roasters in February 2020, weeks before the world shut down, their plan was a Chicagoland café and small office wholesale accounts. COVID had different ideas. Within weeks, every appointment they had lined up was canceled. They had a brand-new roaster and nowhere to use it.
“We had to figure out what to do, fast,” said Eli Coleman, co-founder and head roaster at Gigawatt. “Cafés were closed, offices were closed. The only thing still happening was farmers markets. So we set up the roaster in a spare bedroom and started showing up wherever we could.”
That decision shaped everything. By the end of their first year, Eli and Jen were attending seven farmers markets a week.
Eli started Gigawatt on a JavaMaster in 2020 but moved to Coffee Crafters early in the journey, and he’s been on Coffee Crafters equipment ever since. Six years later, Gigawatt is in their Bensenville roastery running the Artisan X Deluxe, Artisan X, and Valenta 18 fluid bed roasters side by side, attending more than 250 farmers markets, craft fairs, and brewery pop-ups every year across Chicagoland.
“Mobile coffee turned out to be a blessing,” Eli said. “We didn’t have to worry about the lease or the staffing or building the vibe of a café. We just got to focus on what we love most: the beans. Sourcing high-quality green coffee, air roasting it well, and putting it in people’s hands the same week it was roasted.”
Eli is one of the rare roasters worldwide using fluid bed air roasting, a process where green coffee beans are suspended on a bed of hot air rather than tumbled in a hot drum. The result is a cleaner, smoother cup with more distinct flavor and less bitterness.
“We tried a JavaMaster early on, but switching to Coffee Crafters was one of the best decisions we made,” Eli said. “Six years in, we’re still running their machines side by side because they keep delivering. The Artisan X Deluxe, Artisan X, and Valenta 18 each have a place in our operation today.”
Beyond the markets, Gigawatt has a robust wholesale program supplying businesses across the country and ships nationally within 24-48 hours of roasting. They’ve also expanded into small-batch nitro cold brew, available in ready to drink cans.
“Most people don’t know the difference between drum roasting and air roasting,” Jen said. “We get to introduce that to customers every weekend at markets. It’s a privilege to talk to people about a method most of them have never heard of.”
Asked what advice they’d give to new roasters considering Coffee Crafters equipment, Eli’s answer is direct: “Just start. The Artisan is forgiving enough that you can learn on it, and the company is there to help you grow.”
Check out Gigawatt Coffee Roasters at gigawattcoffeeroasters.com.
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