groundwork coffee company dates back to 1990, when richard karno decided to expand his rare book & café business by roasting his own coffee. the demand from local restaurants became so great, he began roasting around the clock. groundwork then went on to become one of the very first certified organic coffee roasters in southern california (as well as the largest organic coffee roaster in los angeles), while pioneering sustainable, relationship-based, and organic coffee sourcing.

coffee is one of the earth’s great resources. in dollars it’s the world’s second most traded commodity. when it comes to pesticides it’s the world’s third most sprayed crop -- that’s why we went organic.

organic certification insures the coffee and the community that grew it are not exposed to harmful pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.

groundwork is committed to advancing both the economic and environmental sustainability of the arabica coffee bean (it’s actually a “seed,” but bean sounds nicer!). our goal is to purchase and roast the best organic coffees from around the world, while helping to improve the lives of farmers, processors, roaster operators, and café baristas.

groundwork offers a wide variety of coffees including certified organics, fairly traded, shade grown, single origin and custom blended coffees. fairly traded means coffee farmers are paid an equitable price for their labor. our roastery is certified organic by the state of california and all our coffees are certified kosher by an even higher authority.

our roastmaster, gaudencio j. martinez, has been with us for more than 17 years, fine tuning each roast to bring out the best in every bean.

from the beginning, groundwork has donated to a variety of charitable organizations, locally as well as halfway around the globe, in various coffee growing regions.