On Thursday, Buunni Coffee opened an ambitious multi-purpose coffee space called The Roasting Room, in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It will use the space to roast coffee, offer co-roasting services, and provide coffee education, according to a press release.
Envisioned as a hub for coffee fans and folks working in the industry, The Roasting Room will feature two Loring S35 Kestrel roasters, as well as the packing equipment needed to roast and manage more than 14,000 pounds of coffee a day.
“We are thrilled to bring The Roasting Room by Buunni to the South Bronx community,” said Buunni Coffee co-founder Sarina Prabasi in a press release. “This space embodies our passion for coffee history, culture, and craftsmanship, and our commitment to leveling the playing field in the specialty coffee industry.”
Why This Matters: Prabasi and her partner and co-founder, Elias Gurmu, opened the first Buunni Coffee location in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in 2012.
Now, the pair has four locations in northern Manhattan, all of which focus on building community engagement by showcasing and celebrating Ethiopian coffee culture. Prabasi and Gurmu met in Ethiopia, where Gurmu is from, while exploring Addis Ababa’s coffee shops.
While Buunni Coffee will roast out of The Roasting Room, the space is also intended to help cultivate would-be coffee entrepreneurs who might face financial challenges starting their own businesses due to the cost of equipment and limited space in the city. The Roasting Room will also provide educational opportunities for eager coffee learners, including both professionals and coffee fans outside the industry.
Gurmu hopes that, by giving small entrepreneurs and eager coffee learners a place to grow and thrive, larger business owners will seek out these micro-roasters. “We call on larger businesses to be intentional in sourcing locally from small and medium businesses as this can have tremendous benefits for the local economic ecosystem,” he said.
The Full Extraction: Prabasi and Gurmu prioritized sustainability in their design of The Roasting Room. Loring roasters use less energy than traditional roasters, and Buunni plans to compost much of its waste, sending chaff (the dried skin that comes off a coffee bean during roasting) to community gardens and other refuse to Waste Not, a Bronx-based composting business that aims to divert waste.
Prabasi is ready and excited to engage with the community, and sees the space as a place to level the playing field within the industry. “We look forward to building meaningful relationships,” she said, “and to open up opportunities in specialty coffee for coffee entrepreneurs, students, and early-career professionals from diverse backgrounds.”
Prabasi and Gurmu are ready, and are already calling on their community to reach out and get involved. “To large companies out there: We are ready to do business,” said Prabasi. “To smaller businesses, we look forward to welcoming you and growing together.”
