About Us

Black Coffee’s incredibly rich flavor starts in the small estate farms in Africa, Colombia and Costa Rica where we source the finest high altitude Arabica beans. Careful blending and small batch air roasting bring out the chocolate, caramel and roasted nut in this fresh, hand crafted brew. Black Coffee is located in Los Angeles, California.

Hal's Story: I was born and raised in Hawaii. (coincidentally the only place in the United States that grows coffee). My love affair with coffee began as a young boy sipping my Dad's iced Kona coffee. By age 13 I had an espresso machine. In 1997 after working in San Francisco as a barista I went to work roasting for a legendary coffee company named Graffeo Coffee. (Graffeo influenced Peets and Starbucks and was the coffee selected by Wolfgang Puck for his famous restaurant Spago.) After 10 years and over 2 million pounds of coffee roasted for them I launched my own company, Black Coffee. I believe that blending coffee varietals is an art and that dark roast can be amazing if the roaster is skilled enough to bring the coffee to a full rich roast without burning it. I roast with air because it allows me to control the roasting process precisely and consistently.

Black Coffee is our second entrepreneurial venture. In 2004 my wife, Carrie Gifford, who is a talented illustrator, and I started our first business called Red Cap Cards redcapcards.com. We now work with multiple illustrators from around the world and our cards can be found around the world as well.