Michigan’s largest Black-owned coffee roastery is right here in Metro Detroit. First Light Roasters, the husband-and-wife venture of Sam Noor and Amal Almaflahi, just held the grand opening of its 8,000-square-foot roastery and café at 37055 Industrial Road in Livonia — and the city showed out for the ribbon cutting.
The story runs deeper than the beans. Sam grew up watching his grandmother roast green coffee in a Somali courtyard, beans carried down from the Cal Madow mountains. Amal’s family comes from Yemen, where the world first brewed coffee centuries ago. Two ancient coffee cultures met in their marriage — and now in every cup they roast.
This is a serious operation. First Light has the capacity to roast 1,500 pounds a day, is SCA-certified, and sources its green coffee directly through licensed partners at origin, including Coffee Board of Kenya licensed importer Kifahari Coffee. Every batch is roasted small, to order, and shipped within 48 hours. Under their premium Detroit Halite label — named for the vast salt deposits mined beneath Detroit for over a century — they pour Africa’s most coveted coffees: Kenya AA, Rwanda Gitwe, and Ethiopia Grade 1. They even offer the Livonia Promise: 10% off café and whole-bean purchases if you live, work, or own a business in Livonia.
Their mission says it all: to bring the peace of Africa’s coffee tradition to the Midwest. Detroit knows good food and drink — and now some of the finest coffees in the world are roasted by neighbors. That’s what we’re celebrating today.
Read the full story: https://www.hourdetroit.com/sponsor-content/the-great-coffees-of-africa-now-have-a-detroit-address/
Tap in. — LORDZ
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