The Rabbit Hole Roasters Ethos:

Rabbit Hole Roasters was started with an important ethos in mind.

“I have a really specific vision of what I want to accomplish in the coffee world, and my vision isn’t about money, or being successful—as it’s normally defined in society, at least,” says David Lalonde, head roaster and co-founder of Rabbit Hole Roasters.

“We got the name both from the expression and from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland book. When people read or hear about us, I want them to see that this is real life, real specialty coffee, only in a way they haven’t seen before.”

Lalonde and Sophie Moreau (also a co-founder of Rabbit Hole), they don't want to have customers, but rather partners.

“I want to partner with importing companies, co-ops, and with farmers. We want to really partner with them, and we want our respective companies to elevate the other,” he adds.

When looking for partnerships, Lalonde wants long-term relationships that allow producers to improve their coffee year-in and year-out. One example of this is their interestingly unique and funky Chinese coffee from the Yunnan province, or their “I can’t believe it’s not caffeinated” decaf from Mexico’s Oaxaca region.

“I can buy coffee from a small Chinese producer, which will allow them to invest in producing higher quality coffee. This benefits the farmers, and in turn rewards us with high-quality coffee that we indirectly contributed to,” Lalonde states.

Rabbit Hole worked alongside Yunnan Coffee Traders to source from Li Jiang, a Chinese coffee producer. This is already their second order from Jiang, and they have every intention of pursuing this mutually beneficial relationship over time.

Although Rabbit Hole Roasters is new on the market, they’re starting off with a bang that will hopefully encourage other roasters to do the same. David Lalonde and his team aren’t just looking for their own success, they want specialty coffee world as a whole to succeed.