Madcap Coffee Company

Overview

Madcap was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2008 by Trevor Corlett and Ryan Knapp, after Corlett's earlier coffee ventures in Indianapolis and Illinois failed. They opened a roastworks adjacent to their Fulton Heights cafe in 2015, and Corlett is a multi-time U.S. Barista Championship finalist.

Known for

• Designer-led brand identity by Seth Herman and Chuck Anderson
• Light-roast, single-origin focused, 3,000+ samples cupped per year
• Multi-year direct relationships with origin producers
• Roastery-cafe model in Fulton Heights with full visual transparency into production
• Multiple cafes in Michigan (Grand Rapids, Detroit's Parker's Alley, Leland's Fishtown)

Why it matters

Madcap proved that flagship-tier specialty roasting could anchor in a mid-size Midwestern city instead of the coastal hubs, and built a national brand identity (with designers Seth Herman and Chuck Anderson) that has been widely imitated. The Fulton Heights roastworks, with windows opening into the roastery from the cafe floor, is a textbook of transparency-by-architecture.

Production

head roaster

Ryan Knapp (Director of Coffee, co-founder)

roaster machine

null

roastery location

1041 Fulton Street East, Fulton Heights, Grand Rapids — purpose-built roastworks opened 2015

annual volume tonnes

null

Café

This roaster operates a café.

Recognitions

• U.S. Barista Championship finalist (Trevor Corlett, multiple years)

Sources

• https://www.madcapcoffee.com/pages/about-us
• https://sprudge.com/madcap-coffees-new-cafe-91186.html
• https://unpacking.coffee/roasters/139-madcap-coffee
• https://peoplefirsteconomy.org/2015/04/madcap-coffee-into-the-unknown/
• https://secondwavemedia.com/coffee-roasters-keep-up-with-customers-changing-tastes-0417/