Enjoy Our Heated & Covered Back Patio!
Spread out with more room & more seating in this covered spot facing Roberson street!
Enjoy the light and fresh air of the outdoors, covered from the elements while sipping your coffee, tea or wine/beer!
For this season we have added clear panels on sections to minimize the wind and maximize the effect of the industrial heater!
Complimentary earplugs are available to help with any extra noise that pops up from time to time as you survey the building of the new Orange County Library in real time!
Pour Over Brews Connect you to the World!
Our Pour Over brews are a way to break down barriers and make specialty coffee accessible for everyone!
Come try our Farmer Direct Relationship Pour Over, roasted right here on-site!
We Currently have options produced by Farmer Luis Alberto Balladarez on his farm, Finca Un Regalo de Dios in Nicaragua, & the 9th place Cup Of Excellence winner from Ecuador!
Enjoy a handcrafted Pour Over & connect with the world!
Generational Relationship with Carrboro Coffee Roasters’ Producer-Partners continues with Finca Jazmin in Honduras
Relationship Building Spans Generations for Carrboro Coffee Roasters and Finca Jazmin in Marcala, Honduras
After many years for working directly with farmers in coffee growing countries, Carrboro Coffee Roaster President Scott Conary celebrated the first ever Origin of Denomination seal awarded to the coffee grown in Marcala, Honduras (think Napa branding for wine from that region) at the cultural fair put on for that honor. During this period, and in talks with an all-women coffee growing Co-Op (COMUCAP), he arranged with one of the organizers to have one of the young members come to the CCR Roastery in Carrboro and be trained in all things coffee/retail.
It was then, Over 12 years ago, that Nancy Hernandez left her country for the first time and was sponsored by Carrboro Coffee Roasters to learn her trade; beyond coffee growing. She wanted to learn all she could in the 10 days she was in USA about coffee roasting, espresso preparation and coffee brewing, and any other retail experience she could take home to Marcala in order to open her very own Cafe. Soft spoken but knowledgeable Nancy (who spoke no English) also shared her viewpoint with area residents and staff so they could put the pieces together for what really needs to happen in the farming/processing side of coffee, before it gets to us as green coffee to roast.
2009
10 years later, she has 5 coffee shops and is actively selling an amazing high quality coffee from her farm, derived form years of hard work, to select roasters around the world. While we stayed in touch over the years and I have visited her in Honduras; 2016 marked the first time she could return to visit CCR again, the starting place of her retail coffee education! Even more amazing was to be visited along with her daughter Angelica, who at 12 was already starting to be an amazing coffee professional herself!
2016
For CCR, this is but one example of the supportive work we have done over the past several decades, but a quintessential one, as it clearly shows our larger goals of creating a broad economic base for all of our Farmer Partners that allow for greater long term, and truly sustainable, relationships for them, their families and their communities. This isn’t just about buying a coffee once or even twice ( though we do value delicious, unique, high quality coffee…), but about safeguarding the future in all forms. For us this started as an investment with a young Nancy, and now extends to her daughter, their family and their community at large.
Now, in 2021, we have had the honor of a return trip by Nancy and her brother, along with Angelica her daughter. This time it is Angelica who will stay to work with us for 3 weeks to absorb all the details we can supply, so that best practices and a new level of skill & knowledge can be brought back to their town of Marcala, and shared with the people of Honduras.
2021
Our tag line is ‘Coffee Unites the World’ and we strive every day to make that true. Sometimes the effect is immediate and observable, and sometimes, like coffee, it too is a seed that is planted for future hope.
Since 2015 we have been working with Nancy to offer her own farms’ coffee – Finca Jazmin. This coffee is amazingly balanced. The care that went into it’s growth and processing, that we tease out with careful and expert roasting, shows in its amazing tropical fruit sweetness and lovely floral and brown sugar qualities. While we have many more examples of our hard-earned Farmer Direct Relationship coffees available, this one has an amazing, full circle quality that really epitomizes all the years of effort, travel, and actual blood, sweat & tears invested in what we lovingly call ‘work’.
This is a special relationship that we strive to share with all of our partners, to have the unique qualities that are exhibited in this program put at the forefront of our company ideals and mission statement. We are willing to go to the lengths necessary to fulfill them & provide hope and a path for the future.
Current Artist Kela Kexel showing at the Cafe
Check out the amazing new art hanging on our walls!
Bright & vivid with amazing insights and stories to tell, artist Kela Kexel is sharing their work for the next few weeks.
Artist statement
“I’m calling this, my first ever gallery show, ‘Kelaidescape: thru the storm.’ In loving memory of my mom and dad who both left here too soon, and dedicated to my boys for whom I’d move mountains and who I hope to make proud by showing them that even and especially in the face of adversity, it is okay to indulge in a dream, no matter how impractical it may seem.
I’ve been through the storm, through a long dark night, until eventually I learned to see in the dark and slowly, slowly found my way back to the light. Jihad, Amanda, Nora, Maria, I couldn’t have done this without you! One love everyone! I hope you enjoy.”
Kela Kexel was born in Racine, WI, to her world travel-loving parents who brought her to Japan at age 5, on what would turn out to be the first of many trips abroad. Kela went on to live in France, Spain, Senegal, Dominican Republic, and Uganda before eventually returning to this area where she now works as a French/Spanish/Wolof medical interpreter while homeschooling her two boys, the loves of her life. Kela started making art in the last couple of years as a way to cope with grief, anxiety and Covid-related isolation…and her art has ultimately taken her through the storm, and finally to a place of radical healing, peace and ever-increasing alignment.
The Summer Season is in Full Swing!
The summer season is in full swing with our sparkling cold brew, and sunny back patio!
Iced Ethiopia Guji Pourover!!!
0ur ACE National Award Winning pour-over coffee, Ethiopia Guji, is now available hot or ICED!
This delightful Natural process coffee is fantastic over ice 
with notes of fruit and berries, a sugar cane sweetness and silky body, it’s the perfect warm weather drink!
with notes of fruit and berries, a sugar cane sweetness and silky body, it’s the perfect warm weather drink!Available now for a limited time!
Order in-store, online or on our Toast Takeout App.
https://www.facebook.com/Open-Eye-Cafe-99520276597/videos/4322371821120848
Now Offering Carrboro Coffee Roasters Winter Solstice Seasonal Blend!
Carrboro Coffee Roasters carefully paired three of their distinct Farmer Direct Relationship coffees as a representation of their personal relationships with coffee producer-partners, who are such an integral part of how CCR works and supports the coffee industry, and the people in it.
CCR have blended 3 individually delightful Farmer Direct Relationship coffees, from 3 distinct farms, that together create something unique and timely for this season of gathering and reflection.
Together these coffees present a luscious red fruit sweetness and acidity that is balanced by a wonderful caramel and chocolate base, a round silky body, and a dash of seasonal baking spice in the finish.
This blend offers a delicious experience that represents the unity and comforts of the season!
This makes a great gift on it’s own or paired with a mug or a Chemex brewer!
Available in the Cafe or online to ship to family & friends.
Celebrate Your Civic Duty with an Open EYE (I) Voted Cup of Coffee!
Missing your “I Voted” sticker?
We have you covered with our specially stamped ‘EYE (I) voted’ cups!
Come get your cup on Election Day ( 11/3) when we will be giving away one free 8oz brewed coffee per customer!
