Black River Roasters — Restaurant in Readington Township

So here's the deal. I like this roaster, they hire great people and the space is great inside. Without a doubt they are a top 5 cafe in the region and that should be commended. However, there's just a few things off that really irk me. On the cafe end of things. Else it would be a 5 star, no contest.

I've been a cheerleader of this place since before they opened. The next closest roasters are either overpriced, they don't date their bags, or they flavor the beans and cross contaminate (ugh). Black River gets this right and I've seen the incremental improvement in roast quality the longer they stay in business.

Let's just talk about my latest trip in:

I was stoked to hit up the cafe, I hadn't been in awhile and even talked it up to a client earlier in the morning. I roll up into the cafe, they have a gravel parking lot and its a bit bumpy. As I go to enter I spy a half smoked pack of Marlboro golds just sitting on a table by the door, I feel compelled to askSonside who it belongs to, but I resist. My goal today is to resupply on beans since I ran out. So I browse the ample selection of roasts and select an Ethiopian yirgacheffe. I turn around and wait for the barista to finish serving previous customer and browse the chalkboard of items.

Being that is warm out and I had to start my morning off with some stale instant coffee, I'm feeling a cold brew. So I order a large and kick their keg immediately. Across the way by the roasting equipment another woman is finishing up a display of goods, they stock local baked things and also build gift boxes which usually look nice and get displayed up front. She comes over to assist the attending barista on swapping it out. The tip jars are funny, they usually are good here.

I get my cold brew, and I instantly feel disappointed. It isn't the quality of the coffee, that's quite good. The people were nice, but one small thing would weave a thread connecting two events that day.

A paper straw.

So, here's the thing. Everything about a paper straw is terrible. The texture makes me think of drinking through a mini toilet paper roll insert. Then there is the knowledge that there is a clock ticking before it inevitably turns to mush. Then there's the unnecessary virtue signalling. It's a major turnoff.

You see, Black River didn't have to do this. They already used PLA plastic (Greenwear I think) for their cups and formerly for their straws. It holds up functionally the same as regular drinkwear except you can claim it's made from corn and it can be composted (albeit not in a home compost, but it's still a massive improvement over PETE). You can still virtue signal and not also tell your customers you want them to suffer through their indulgence.

Remember I mentioned they use PLA cups. As my straw turned to mush the firmer PLA straw punch bit into it and cut off any flow on the paper straw. To finish the cup I then had to remove the lid to stop the straw from being pinched off. It's just a nonsense product.

So something happened a few hours later: I'm a part time taxi driver. Later in the day I picked up a regular with a disability that asked to go to dunkin donuts. He walks with a walker and generally his arms and legs don't always go where he wants them to. He got a small iced coffee and ended up mangling his plastic straw by accident so it wouldn't go in, this was a first in the dozen or so times I brought him to one. He asks me to go inside and grab a new one so I do, and we get to talking about the paper straw nonsense. You see for me this just pisses me off, for him they are a disaster because disabled people aren't blessed with the ability to easily maneuver, that straw would be bent out of whack even before it left the wrapper. He drops this wisdom on me: "I don't see the point in paper straws when the cup is...

I don’t typically leave reviews unless I am praising a local business that I love. This time it’s different. I have been a loyal customer of Black River Roasters for 5+ years. Amongst many items, I often purchase a growler of their cold brew which costs $19 plus a growler fee of $5 which is refunded once you bring back the growler. Yesterday was the first day under their new ownership that I went to return my growler, I was asked if I wanted to swap out my growler and I said not this time but that I’d be back soon. The cashier was then trying to process my $5 refund and was not sure if he was doing it right, the owner then got involved and said we don’t give you a refund for the growler fee. I was confused and stated I have done this for years, I’ve always been refunded for the cost of the growler once I return it - (I’ve probably bought 20+ growlers of cold brew over time). He told me I was wrong and they’ve never done that and refused to refund me. I asked if I can buy something else then for the same value and the cashier said yeah - as I was looking around for something the owner rudely mumbled to the cashier that he can give me the $5 off of another purchase (he obviously didn’t hear the question I had just asked). The $5 is not the point, the principal is. If I had not found a chocolate bar for $5.25 which I had to pay $0.37 for with tax - he would have made me leave with nothing. I was completely disrespected, treated rudely, and for the first time felt like I did not belong in a place that was once a familiar community. Needless to say, after yesterdays experience, I will not be returning and will find another local brewer for my cold brew in the future. I hope no one else ever gets put in this situation - which is the reason I’ve decided to speak out. This place is more concerned about not following their policy and keeping my $5 then doing the right thing. I hope your greed and a $5 chocolate bar was worth loosing a...

The blueberry muffin and iced spicy mocha were FABULOUS.

I came at 10:45 on a Monday and there were 3 people waiting for coffees and 4 people in front of me waiting to order. Very busy time! There were 2 people working, a girl with a long thick brown braid doing espresso and the other guy taking orders and helping finish drinks. The vibes with these two were giving battered coworker syndrome. Poor guy looked like he was afraid for his life and braids was aggressive. She aggressively was slamming something behind the counter (seemingly having some difficulty with equipment) and the strongest RBF I’ve ever seen. She’d walk over to the drinks sitting on the counter not yet claimed and like a drill sargent, shocking everyone staring waiting, and praying their drinks would be next, screams the drink names into the abyss. No one moves. Other guy looks like he’s holding tears back.

I got my drink and left, enjoyed my muffin while watching this poor kid experience some sort of hostile work environment.

I will go back, but I hope braids is in a better mood and the...