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Chicago · United States

Metropolis Coffee Company

Since 2003 · Jeff Dreyfuss, Tony Dreyfuss

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Overview

Metropolis was founded in December 2003 by father-and-son Jeff and Tony Dreyfuss in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood, after Jeff — then a University of Washington Indonesian language professor — befriended head roaster Dan Donohugh at Caffè Vita in Seattle's Capitol Hill and learned to cup and roast through informal apprenticeship. The pair impulsively bought a 12kg roaster on personal checks at 2002's Coffee Fest in Seattle (after a dozen-shot espresso-drinking competition), opened in Edgewater 2003, won Roast Magazine's National Roaster of the Year in 2007, and now operate an 18,000 sq ft Avondale roasterie that ships to roughly 600 wholesale partners across Chicago, the U.S., and Canada.

Known for

  • Roast Magazine National Roaster of the Year (2007)
  • Family-owned father-and-son founding pedigree
  • Edgewater's anchor specialty cafe (since 2003)
  • Logo inspired by Parisian metro gates + 1927 Metropolis film
  • Multi-year Good Food Awards winner

Why it matters

Metropolis is one of Chicago's three foundational specialty roasters (alongside Intelligentsia and Halfwit/Dollop), and the only one that started after most of the third-wave revolution had crystallized — making it an early validation that Chicago could absorb more than one hometown specialty brand. Tony Dreyfuss has been unusually candid about the bipolar disorder diagnosis (2012) that drove the company's manic early growth, a kind of founder transparency that's structurally rare.

Production

destoning
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head roaster
null
color sorting
Laser color analysis on every batch
roaster machine
Initially a 12kg roaster (purchased on personal checks at Coffee Fest Seattle 2002); subsequently scaled production roasters in 18,000 sq ft Avondale facility
filter equipment
null
cupping frequency
Every batch (triple-check: roast spec + laser color + cupping)
roastery location
Avondale, Chicago, IL (18,000 sq ft)
espresso equipment
null
annual volume tonnes
450

Café

1039 W Granville Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660 (original Edgewater)

Recognitions

  • Roast Magazine National Roaster of the Year (2007) — formerly 'Best Micro-Roaster in the USA'
  • Good Food Awards (multiple years, back-to-back winner)
  • Best Café in Chicago — Chicago Reader (multiple years)

Sources

More roasters