WASHINGTON — These days you can have vodka, doughnuts and even Chipotle delivered to your door — so why not a few bags of locally roasted coffee?
District Beans is here to satisfy your craving for craft coffee with its monthly delivery service. Tim Eagan, founder and CEO of the Internet-based business, started the company last December as a way to help connect local coffee fans with the community’s roasters.
“From my own experience, I’d find new roasters at different farmers markets on the weekends when I was out and about in the city, and I just thought about how nice it would be to have some of this delivered at home on a monthly basis, and just somebody else telling me who was new and fresh within the city,” he says.
District Beans is just as focused on growing exposure for the roasters, who Egan says can sometimes be “more focused on their craft and less on marketing,” as it is on introducing the community to new beans.
Some of the featured roasters include Vigilante Coffee Company, Swings, Rise Up and Compass Coffee.
There are three different monthly subscription plans — think of it as small, medium and large options — and prices range from $16 a month to $44 a month.
Egan sources the beans from his featured roasters around the first of the month and prepares the packages for delivery within a few days.
“The subscribers are really getting the coffee at peak freshness, so it’s generally within five to eight days of the coffee being roasted,” he says.
The subscriber base for District Beans has grown by 50 to 70 percent each month, Egan says, and he predicts the business will continue to expand as more Washingtonians get hooked on D.C.-made Joe.
“I think D.C. folks are developing a palate for better coffee — less of the K-Cup, diner sludge if you will — and they know that good coffee comes from good roasters.”
