Summit Sisters Coffee

Summit Sisters Coffee is a family-operated roasting business based in the Nashville, Tennessee area. The company functions as a specialized division of Summit Coffee Company, a wholesale roastery originally established by the founders' father nearly 30 years ago. The current operation is led by sisters Camie Carlisle and Chelsea Lanier, who transitioned into the coffee industry to build upon their family's legacy while pursuing a career path that offered greater work-life balance.

The company operates out of Old Hickory, Tennessee, leveraging the infrastructure of their father’s established wholesale roastery. By functioning as a division of this larger entity, Summit Sisters Coffee maintains direct access to a consistent supply of green coffee, which they then process in smaller, controlled quantities. This micro-batch approach is central to their production philosophy, intended to ensure freshness and quality control by minimizing the time between roasting and consumption.

In their roasting practice, the sisters utilize two distinct methods: air roasting and drum roasting. Air roasting employs a stream of hot air to agitate and heat the beans, while drum roasting uses a heated rotating cylinder to distribute heat via both conduction and convection. This technical flexibility allows them to tailor their roasting profiles to the specific requirements of their diverse product catalog, which ranges from high-end single-origin offerings to flavored blends.

Their market presence is defined by a commitment to accessibility and consumer education. Unlike many specialty roasters that focus exclusively on unflavored single-origin beans, Summit Sisters Coffee emphasizes a 'coffee for everyone' philosophy. They maintain a significant retail presence at local markets, where they provide sensory experiences—such as aromatic jars—to help customers identify preferences based on roast level and brewing method. Their flavored coffee line, featuring profiles like Tennessee Whiskey and Maple Bourbon, has become a notable component of their retail success.

Sourcing and transparency are managed through their connection to the parent wholesale roastery, which supplies a variety of beans including organic and high-end specialty lots such as Costa Rica Geisha and Hawaiian Kona. The sisters emphasize that their business model is designed to foster community and support women in the coffee industry, aiming to make the specialty coffee space more inclusive for both producers and consumers.

Today, the company balances wholesale distribution to local businesses, hospitals, and campuses with a direct-to-consumer retail model. By combining the established supply chain of a multi-decade roastery with a modern, female-led brand identity, Summit Sisters Coffee occupies a unique niche in the Nashville coffee scene, bridging the gap between traditional wholesale operations and the artisanal, small-batch expectations of contemporary coffee drinkers.