Our Tiger Roast Has a Story

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RIT Dining took a trip to the Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters facility, just under 20 miles from the RIT Henrietta campus.

Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters opened their first café in 1996 in Bushnell’s Basin, NY, and after a year, began to sell wholesale coffee. They eventually moved into their state-of-the-art roasting facility in Victor, NY in 2005, where they have been perfecting the art of roasting an assortment of high-quality Arabica beans from coffee farms around the world. This was around the time that Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters became a local partner with RIT, providing wholesale beans and different flavored coffee blends for the RIT community to enjoy on campus.

While Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters has an impressive 50 different flavors they use for their beans, their most popular flavored coffee is the Jamaican Me Crazy, a mix of cinnamon, rum, and pecan – and yes, you can get it at Beanz on the RIT campus!

In August 2023, RIT Dining introduced the RIT Tiger Roast at Beanz, a Bolivian dark roast with notes of almond, citrus, and cocoa from Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters. This Bolivian dark roast comes from a coffee farm that is woman-owned, fair-trade certified and organic-certified.  

Larry Werges and Bob Cowdery, the dynamic duo behind the scenes, met in kindergarten and eventually went to the same college where they both studied engineering. Larry, who had a background in customer service, saw a need for wholesale coffee after a year in the business of opening the café and testing different beans and flavors with the public to get feedback.

For Larry and Bob, it wasn’t just important to understand the craft of roasting but to build a business that was sustainable and ethical for coffee farmers. They have since expanded their portfolio and have built partnerships with growers over 28 years in the business. 32% of all the beans Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters produce and sell are fair-trade and organic certified, which directly helps support the working farmers and their families in more than 30 countries.

An organic certification seal is noted on Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters’ packaging, which means that coffee bean is a product that has followed a rigorous organic supply chain management process and quality controls from coffee bean plant to cup – all regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through their National Organic Program. Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters undergoes inspections on a regular basis to maintain this status on their product and continue to see steady growth in their organic sales.

It’s not enough to have the organic certified seal, but being fair-trade certified takes on a whole new level of commitment, ensuring that coffee farmers and their communities and environment are protected and supported.

Our new Tiger Roast coffee comes from the Café Femenino Bolivia Program, a network that supports women building a better future for themselves and their families. In 2009, a group of Bolivian women decided to separate their coffee production from the men’s, create a women’s association, and started their own Café Femenino Bolivia Program. This was a monumental accomplishment because their names were connected to the titles of their land. If any of these women are abandoned or widowed, this provides them security and stability for themselves and their children. Why does this matter? The women shared that through this program, they are empowered in a space that provides them educational opportunities, a place where their voice is heard, and move into leadership roles – able to own their own destinies.

So next time you order a hot cup of the Tiger Roast at Beanz, remember that you’re taking part in a bigger story that impacts a larger network.