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The Crown Jewel

Oakland’s Royal Coffee is leading coffee in a thrilling new direction. If you’ve watched our show, you know we care deeply about making coffee accessible and approachable. For some, this might mean tasting a new coffee or coffee drink. For others, it might be taking that first step towards learning to roast. In this philosophy, we’ve found a kindred spirit in Royal’s team and they’re already delivering in a big way.

Royal Coffee is a green coffee importer who has been finding homes for coffee beans since 1978. Recently, word dropped about their forthcoming coffee lab, tasting room, and education space dubbed The Crown.

When this space opens, it will be like nothing we’ve seen in coffee so far. It is an honor (and we don’t use that word lightly) to work alongside these visionaries as they focus on making coffee education and experiences available to seekers at every level.

“Needmore was one of the first people we called when we got serious about this project. We knew that in order to reflect the heart and soul of The Crown, we needed a digital representation and online platform where we could share our findings freely and widely.”

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Not to rest on their laurels while the buildout happens, Royal has just unveiled The Crown Jewel, beautiful coffee available in a 22-pound box. Since green coffee is typically available in bags over 100-pounds, this lowers the bar for entry and is a game changer for home roasters and established roasters alike.

“We want this to be for people just getting into the industry,” The Crown General Manager Richard Sandlin told Sprudge. “But we also want it to be for people who are established and want to diversify; and for people who are roasting at home, because this is a huge trend.”

Leading up to the unveiling, we worked with the team at Royal to design and produce a powerful new digital experience that embodies the spirit and character of Royal through a top-to-bottom redesign and rearchitecture featuring gorgeous photography as well as an information-rich coffee market and blog.

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As the gents at Sprudge note, what better way to let the world know about this new offering than with “a spiffy new website with in-depth coffee analyses from coffee game web winners Needmore Designs.” (Side note: coffee game web winners is now vying for a place as our new tagline.)

We couldn’t be more thrilled to share this new project with you today. Our hearts are full as we imagine the impact of Royal’s leadership and vision on coffee. We’ve glimpsed into bits and pieces of this future and it is indeed bright.

Kandace Brigleb

Producer, co-founder of Needmore. Currently residing on the left coast.