Dave Elwell and Steve Leven, the original owners, opened their first cafe at 52 Irving Place in 1996 and converted a Millerton carriage house into a roastery two years later. The company says it still roasts all its coffee there. They moved to 71 Irving Place in 2001, a year before the award.
Santa Isabel, the Guatemalan farm of Alex and Martin Keller, has supplied Irving Farm since 2012. The Monserrate cooperative in Huila, Colombia, has been a partner since 2013 and receives a fixed price for its coffee. The company says it has contributed over $30,000 since 2017 toward wastewater treatment and solar coffee drying there.
