At Larry's Beans, we practice coffee as an art form. It starts with farmers and continues with our love of slow-roasting and creative blending. Like artists with the best paints in the world, we transform our beans into wildly unique blends — from the dark smoothness of Frank Sumatra to the luscious complexities of Malabar Triple X.

Our Fair Trade commitment is absolute. We were one of the first roasters to bring in an ISO 65 certifier to audit our document trail -- and to post that document trail online. 100% of our coffee is Fair Trade.

But coffee is only one way we try to make a difference. Our delivery vehicles are fueled by used veggie oil that we pick up from area restaurants. We green-o-vated our warehouses and office spaces by making them passive solar, installing area-based heating, water-saving dual-flush toilets, and using recycled materials such as reclaimed wood (next up is rainwater harvesting). We support alternative energy in our community by providing Raleigh's only pump for Biodiesel 100 – and, by the way, it’s locally made by our friends at Piedmont Biofuels. Next up on our alternative transportation agenda? Raleigh's first bicycle-powered mobile espresso bar!

We love to support the local arts scene by hiring painters, writers and musicians (artists tend to be our best roasters). We love to sponsor music and dance events like the Shakori Hills Grass Roots Festival. We produced a CD of amazing music from Nicaraguan coffee farmers (It's called "Musicians, Farmers, & Poets" - get it on iTunes!). And we're working on hosting monthly Waltz Nights.

We believe business is a part of life. So it should be fun, fulfilling and a force for good. Don’t you?