Elixr Coffee Roasters was founded in Philadelphia in 2010 and specialises in lighter-roasted coffees. Its aim is “to deliver transformative coffee experiences” through the sourcing, roasting, brewing and serving of unusual coffees, and its range runs to microlots and seasonal blends.

Elixr placed second at the 2018 United States Barista Championship and third in 2019, reached the final of the US Roasting Championship in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, won the Coffee Champs Reno roasters’ competition in 2017 and came second at America’s Best Espresso in Baltimore in 2018.

Elixr has two cafés in Center City and others in Callowhill, in West Philadelphia and at Philadelphia International Airport, between Terminals B and C. Elixr Center City is home to the art programme: Elixr commissions six murals a year for the café’s inside and outside and holds public events there, to keep a dialogue going between the business, the artists and the community. Outside the city, Elixr runs cafés in Norwood and State College in Pennsylvania and one in Nashville, Tennessee. Orders can be placed ahead for pick-up at the cafés.

Elixr also supplies much of Philadelphia, the Atlantic Northeast and further afield with wholesale coffee. Wholesale customers, from sit-down breakfast places to offices and neighbourhood cafés, get deliveries twice a week, café consultation, staff training, equipment purchasing and technical support, and can have blends and packaging developed for them.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Elixr Coffee Roasters