The Roastery
We set out to build a coffee company we'd want to exist.
CREMA was founded in 2018 in the Mission District of San Francisco. We started with one second-hand roaster, two accounts, and an obsession with the gap between how exceptional specialty coffee can be and how most people actually encounter it.
Six years later, we're still in the Mission — with a larger roaster, three café locations, and forty-three wholesale partners across the Bay Area. What hasn't changed: the obsession.
2847 Mission St — Flagship & Roastery
The Journey
How we got here
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The plan forms
Maya Chen, then a green buyer at a Bay Area importer, drafts the initial business plan for CREMA in a Dolores Park notebook. The vision: a roaster that treats sourcing relationships and roasting craft as equally load-bearing.
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Mission District opens
The flagship roastery and café opens at 2847 Mission Street. Maya and Torres Okafor serve the first cappuccino on February 12th. The roaster is a 15kg Probat purchased from a retiring Portland roaster.
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First direct-trade visit
Maya visits El Paraíso Farm in Huila, Colombia. Diego Bermúdez shows her the anaerobic fermentation tanks he's developing. The relationship begins — and a very different kind of coffee enters the lineup.
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Hayes Valley opens
The second café opens on Fell Street during a fragile moment for hospitality. The minimal espresso bar format is designed for high throughput without sacrificing quality. Sam Westbrook joins as Wholesale Director.
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Berkeley expands the reach
CREMA Elmwood opens on College Avenue, bringing the brew bar format to the East Bay. Saturday public cuppings begin drawing 30–40 attendees weekly — from first-timers to Q-graders.
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Annual Sourcing Report launched
Priya Nair publishes CREMA's first public sourcing transparency report, disclosing pricing, relationships, and volume commitments across all lots. Sets a new bar for the Bay Area specialty scene.
The People
Our team
Maya Chen
Founder & Head Roaster
Maya spent five years as a green buyer for a Bay Area importer before founding CREMA in 2018. She holds a Q Arabica Grader certification and travels to origin twice yearly. Her roasting philosophy: start from the green, develop to the coffee's nature, not to a style.
Torres Okafor
Head Barista & Training Director
Torres competed in the US Brewers Cup three times, placing in the top six nationally. He leads all barista training across CREMA locations and designs our brew guide program. He is relentlessly curious about water chemistry and its effect on extraction.
Priya Nair
Green Buyer & Sourcing Relations
With roots in agricultural economics, Priya manages our importer relationships and travels annually to our direct-trade partners in Colombia and Ethiopia. She tracks pricing transparency across our supply chain and co-authors our annual sourcing report.
Sam Westbrook
Wholesale Director
Sam built our wholesale program from two accounts to forty-three in three years. He consults with wholesale partners on equipment selection, staff training, and menu design. His background is in restaurant operations — he speaks the language of service.
How We Source
Honest coffee, honestly sourced
Above-market pricing
We pay $0.80–$2.40 per lb above the commodity C price on every lot we buy. We publish this data annually.
Multi-year commitments
Where possible, we commit to purchase volumes before harvest, giving producers planning certainty and reducing financial risk.
Feedback loops
We share roast feedback and retail customer responses with producers. The conversation goes both ways.