Astoria roastery firing its roaster with mostly storm-felled hardwood from within 50 miles.
Sean Donnelly began roasting at home in a cast-iron skillet over a backyard grill, then founded Mighty Oak with Peter Moses in Astoria in May 2019. A CTE Ghibli R15 firewood roaster stands in the open at the back of the shop, fed with kiln-dried hardwood from local arborists, mostly trees felled by storms.
Donnelly travels to farms, and the beans come from importers and directly from growers, among them Fazenda Colina in Brazil and Escuela y Café, an educational coffee program in Colombia's Cauca region. The room runs back from a corner entrance, painted dark green, with a counter clad in wood slats and bagged coffee on shelves behind it.
