Rise Up Coffee Roasters

Rise Up Coffee Roasters was established in 2005 by founder Tim Cureton and co-founder Abby West. The company’s origins are rooted in Cureton’s experiences traveling after his Peace Corps service, where he encountered coffee quality and variety that inspired him to enter the industry. With a $16,000 business loan, the founders launched the business as a coffee trailer in a parking lot in St. Michaels, Maryland, predating the modern food truck trend. This humble beginning served as the foundation for what would eventually become a significant regional presence.

Over the past two decades, the company has pursued a strategy of cautious growth. In 2010, Noah Kegley, a lifelong friend of Cureton, joined the business as a partner and head roaster. Under their leadership, the company expanded from its single trailer into a network of high-volume cafe locations across Maryland. The company now employs over 300 people and maintains an active online store alongside its wholesale operations, consistently receiving recognition as a prominent coffee brand within the state.

The company’s sourcing philosophy is centered on fair trade and organic certifications. Their product lineup includes a variety of signature blends—such as their House Roast, Maryland Blend, and French Roast—as well as single-origin offerings from regions like Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia. By prioritizing these certifications, the company aims to provide a consistent, ethically sourced product that appeals to a broad consumer base, ranging from light-roast enthusiasts to those preferring darker, more traditional profiles.

Operational transparency and quality control are managed through their roasting facility, where they process small batches to maintain consistency across their retail and wholesale channels. The company emphasizes its identity as an independent roaster, focusing on the relationships between the roaster, the staff, and the end consumer. Their business model relies on a combination of physical cafe experiences and a robust subscription-based e-commerce platform that allows customers to select specific roast levels and delivery frequencies.

It is important to distinguish this Maryland-based entity from other similarly named businesses, such as the UK-based Rise Up Coffee or the Thailand-based RISE COFFEE, which operate independently with different sourcing focuses and histories. The Maryland-based Rise Up Coffee Roasters remains distinct for its specific history in the Eastern Shore region and its long-standing commitment to the fair trade and organic market segments.

Today, the company stands as a mature example of a small-batch roaster that successfully scaled its operations while maintaining its original branding and sourcing standards. By focusing on accessible, high-quality organic coffee and fostering a strong local identity, Rise Up Coffee Roasters has solidified its position in the mid-Atlantic coffee market, continuing to operate with the same core team that guided its expansion from a single trailer to a multi-cafe enterprise.