A BRIEF HISTORY... groundwork coffee company dates back to 1990, when rare book dealer and café owner Richard Karno decided to expand his café business by roasting his own coffee. The demands from local restaurants became so great, he began roasting around the clock.  groundwork then went on to become one of the very first certified organic roasters in Southern California, while pioneering organic, sustainable, and relationship-based coffee sourcing.

Coffee is one of the earth’s great resources.  In dollars it is the world’s second most traded commodity. When it comes to pesticides it is the world’s third most sprayed crop-- that’s why we went organic.

groundwork is committed to advancing both the economic and environmental sustainability of the Arabica coffee bean (it’s actually a “seed,” but bean sounds nicer!).  Our goal is to purchase and roast the best organic coffees from around the world, while helping to improve the lives of farmers, processors, roaster operators, and café baristas.

Organic certification insures the coffee and the community that grew it are not exposed to harmful pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.

WE MEAN BEANS... groundwork offers a wide variety of coffees including 100% certified organics, fairly traded, shade grown, single origin and custom blended coffees.  Fairly Traded means coffee farmers are paid an equitable price for their labor.  Our roastery is certified organic by the State of California and all of our coffees are certified kosher by an even higher power.  

Our roastmaster has been with us for over 18 years, fine tuning each roast to bring out the best in every bean.  And to insure the quality of our beans, a licensed Q Grader is always part of our team.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMS... From the beginning, groundwork has donated to a variety of charitable organizations, locally as well as halfway around the globe, in various coffee growing regions.