About Us

Our Story

John Bolt opened a small and humble coffee roasting shop in Chicago. The year was 1938 and a new era of coffee was born. Fast forward several decades and two generations, and you’ll see that much is still the same. 

Today, John Bolt’s tradition of quality, craft, and flavor lives on. Our coffees are meticulously sourced from around the world and all of our roasts are done in small batches, by hand. Our attention to detail makes every cup special. 

We hope you enjoy our coffees as much as we do.

Small Batch Roasting

At John Bolt, only the finest will do. We take the craft of roasting seriously. Coffee roasting is a true tradecraft and requires a great deal of time to master. It’s a never ending journey for our roastmaster in search for the perfect batch. 

We roast in small batches, one after the other. We focus our efforts on highlighting the special qualities of each coffee such as sweetness, body, and balance. We’re able to unleash these otherwise hidden gems of flavor locked deep within our coffees because of the small batch sizes we run and our commitment to artisan production.

Quality Sourcing

Amazing coffee starts at the source, thousands of miles away one coffee bean at a time. Our quality is managed and guaranteed through highly specialized sourcing relationships that we’ve spent many years cultivating with our farming partners around the world. We go above and beyond for the best and only the finest will do.

Freshness

Coffee is a perishable commodity—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. We take freshness seriously and can guarantee that no other coffee company is able to deliver like we can. We roast 7 days a week and move all of our beans to our valued partners in retail faster and better than our competitors.

Value

Our founding proprietors always said, we don’t roast the best coffee, we don’t sell the cheapest coffee—we roast and sell the very finest coffee at the very best price. Great, amazing, fresh, world-class coffee shouldn’t cost an arm and leg nor should it break your bank. One look at our prices and one sip from your cup and you’ll soon realize our promise of value for you and your family or establishment is unmatched. You work hard to earn your money—keep it in your wallet.