Larry’s Coffee
Quick verdict: Larry’s is a small Raleigh roaster that has been a B Corp since 2011, scores 113.9 on the B Impact assessment, and runs its roastery on solar and harvested rainwater. It’s also the least self-serious brand in our coffee roundup. Both things are true, and that’s rarer than it should be. Our rating: 4.1 out of 5.
Who they are
Larry Larson started roasting in Raleigh in 1992, back when a micro-roaster in North Carolina was an odd thing to be. He built the company around a cluster of three buildings in the Five Points neighborhood with the roastery in the middle, and he stayed for three decades.
In July 2025 he retired and sold to Jesse Lotrecchiano and Sandro Niessen, a married couple who have kept the team on and grown it to about 15 people. So the ownership is new, but it’s two people who run the business, not a holding company. Nobody bought Larry’s to fold it into a portfolio.
Worth knowing if you read our coffee roundup before today: we originally dated that sale to 2024. It was July 2025, and we’ve corrected it.
What they get right
The B Corp score is the headline. Certified since March 2011, filed under the company name Larry’s Beans Inc, with an overall B Impact score of 113.9. Qualifying takes 80. The median for companies that finish the assessment is 50.9. Fifteen years of recertification is a long time to keep clearing that bar.
They buy through Cooperative Coffees. Larry’s is a founding member of this importing cooperative, which buys green coffee collectively from smallholder farmer co-ops on long-term terms. It’s a structural answer to sourcing rather than a sourcing promise, and for a roaster this size it’s the only realistic way to get that kind of leverage at origin.
The building does real work. Solar water-heated radiant floors across four tanks, a 2,500-gallon rainwater system running the restrooms, passive-solar clerestory windows for daylight, zoned heating, heavy insulation and worm composting. Most brands offset. This one just uses less.
Nearly all the coffee is organic, fair trade and shade-grown, which is three certifications stacked on the same bean rather than one spread thin. Shade-grown matters because it keeps canopy standing instead of clearing it.
Where they fall short
“Nearly all” is not “all”. The brand’s own current wording is that nearly all of its coffee is organic, fair trade and shade-grown. Its B Lab listing, written at certification, says 100%. We’ve gone with the more conservative of the two, because it’s the one the company is standing behind today. Check the individual bag if a specific certification is the reason you’re buying.
The ownership is one year old. Larson ran this for thirty-three years and the record we’re scoring is largely his. Lotrecchiano and Niessen have said they intend to preserve what the company is, and so far they have. It’s still a short track record, and it’s the field most worth re-checking here.
No published prices. Cooperative Coffees publishes at the co-op level, but Larry’s doesn’t put a price paid next to each coffee the way Onyx does or an annual figure the way Counter Culture does. You’re trusting the certifications and the co-op membership.
It’s a small operation with a cult following, not a pantry staple. Thirty-odd blends and single origins, plus seasonal roasts. Fun to browse. Harder to find in a grocery store.
What they sell and what it costs
Whole bean and ground coffee. Mostly 12oz bags around $22, with 4oz samplers, 2lb and 5lb bags for people who go through it, and K-cups. That’s a modest premium over supermarket coffee for beans carrying three certifications and a B Corp behind them.
Who it’s actually for
Buy Larry’s if you want to support a small certified roaster and you’d rather not be lectured while doing it. The branding is loud, the coffee is solid, and the substance underneath it holds up to checking, which is not the usual order of those things.
If you want published prices paid at origin, Counter Culture or Onyx. If you want the cheapest certified option, Equal Exchange sells six-packs. And if you want every single bag certified rather than nearly all of them, Grounds for Change does that for about the same money.
Deals and discounts
No affiliate relationship on our side. The larger bag sizes are the cheapest way to buy.
Related reading
- The Best Ethical and Sustainable Coffee Brands Worth Buying
- What Shade-Grown Coffee Means, and Which Label Proves It
- Fair Trade vs Direct Trade Coffee: Which Actually Pays Farmers More?
Frequently asked questions
Has Larry’s Coffee changed hands?
Jesse Lotrecchiano and Sandro Niessen, who bought it in July 2025 from founder Larry Larson when he retired after running the company since 1992. They’re individual owners rather than a company, the staff stayed on, and the team has grown to around 15. No parent company or investment group is involved.
Does Larry’s Coffee hold B Corp certification?
Yes, since March 2011, listed in B Lab’s directory under the company name Larry’s Beans Inc with an overall B Impact score of 113.9. That’s well above the 80 needed to qualify and more than double the 50.9 median for businesses completing the assessment.
How does Larry’s Coffee source its beans?
Through Cooperative Coffees, an importing cooperative Larry’s helped found, which buys green coffee collectively from small farmer cooperatives on long-term terms. Nearly all the resulting coffee is certified organic, fair trade and shade-grown. What they don’t do is publish the price paid per lot, so the certifications and the co-op membership are what you’re relying on.
What makes the Larry’s roastery different?
It runs on systems rather than offsets. Solar water heating feeds radiant floors across four tanks, a 2,500-gallon rainwater harvest supplies the restrooms, and passive-solar clerestory windows handle daylight, alongside zoned heating, heavy insulation and worm composting. The roastery sits in the middle of three buildings in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood.