The Story
Passenger first opened for business in the spring of 2014, serving coffee out of a modified Airstream travel trailer to friends and neighbors in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Founded by three frequent flyers—Kyle Sollenberger, Crystal Weaver, and David Stallings—all native to south-central Pennsylvania but who had spent significant amounts of time in other parts of the country. When they were first conceiving Passenger, Stallings was living in Brooklyn, Crystal was back-and-forth between the Seattle area and Lancaster, and Kyle was between San Francisco and Lancaster.
As the founders traveled frequently between major metropolitan areas for work and their hometown of Lancaster, the experience of being a passenger took on special significance.
David Stallings had roasted for quite a number of years and was working as a Production Manager in Brooklyn before helping start Parlor Coffee. When he and his wife decided to leave New York and start a family, founding a roasting company in his hometown seemed like the perfect way out of Brooklyn.
Kyle Sollenberger met Crystal Weaver through mutual friends and as a frequent guest of her Prince Street Café. When Kyle approached Crystal about expanding Prince Street Café’s operations, another acquaintance expressed interest in starting a coffee roasting company in Lancaster, which led to the debut of Passenger.
The company opened its flagship retail store in Lancaster’s former Heritage Center Museum in February 2016.
Sourcing & Relationships
At the heart of everything Passenger does is a particular philosophy of partnership. They are committed to the pursuit of long-term, mutually beneficial business relationships with core producers, well aware that their business would be nothing without the people who produce the coffee and tea they buy.
Passenger’s sourcing model is built on long-term partnerships with producers around the world, investing directly in farmers who prioritize quality, traceability, and environmentally sound practices. Every bean is selected with intention, often showcasing unique micro-lots and rare varieties that push the boundaries of specialty coffee.
The company works with seven Foundational Partners, sourcing exceptional single-origin, blend, and decaffeinated offerings from these key relationships.
These Foundational partnerships span producers in Ethiopia, El Salvador, Colombia, Burundi, Brazil, and Cusco, Peru.
For each Foundational Partnership, the goal is to add value for producers as a reliable, ongoing buyer, intentionally prioritizing the purchase of a broad representation—not just the ‘cream of the crop’—of the coffees and quality grades that each partner produces.
As a certified B Corp, Passenger fosters relationships with coffee producers all over the world, from family farms of a few hectares to co-ops of thousands, buying directly from producers and paying above Fair Trade prices regardless of uncontrollable circumstances that might affect the season’s yield.
Roasting Philosophy
Archival coffee preservation through freezing is arguably the most important strategy Passenger has adopted in support of their sourcing philosophy, roasting style, and standard of quality consistency. Freezing coffee has been a core element of their approach since the beginning, and currently 100% of their green (unroasted) coffees, including microlots, Foundational offerings, and blend components are kept carefully preserved in frozen storage.
They go a step further than most roasters by vacuum-sealing and deep-freezing green coffee. This cutting-edge archival method locks in freshness, allowing them to roast green coffee from past harvests while retaining its original flavor integrity—a revolutionary approach in the industry.
Passenger operates with two roasting machines: a 15 kg Loring that they use for blends and Foundational Lots, and a 5 kg Proaster for Reserve Lots.
When they receive coffee destined to be a Reserve Lot, they repackage it into small, batch-size increments before freezing, allowing them to roast only as much as needed each time rather than large batches that might waste extra coffee.
Freezing allows them to present the same coffee year round and year after year while always maintaining freshness. It also enables them to do unique things like present multiple harvests from the same producer, creating possibilities that don’t exist when coffee isn’t frozen.
What to Try
Passenger structures their menu around Foundational Offerings—five coffee-producing partners that are the focus of their menu, available year round and also the components that make up their two blends. By focusing energy on just five producers, they’re able to have more meaningful purchasing relationships with these producers.
These are balanced, approachable, darker-roasted coffees sourced from Passenger’s Foundational Partners.
The company also offers rare Reserve and Education Lot coffees alongside their curated Foundational offerings, all roasted for clarity and consistency.
The expansive side of their menu is found in Reserve Lots—exceptional coffees that are an excellent representation of plant genetics, processing, or a time and place a coffee was produced. Many of these coffees are producers that return to the menu year after year, but some represent one-time buys that were too good or too interesting to pass up.
Whether purchased at auction, from Passenger’s Foundational Partners, or from other notable producers around the world, these extraordinary, limited-volume selections are the finest terroir-driven coffees on their menu.
Recent releases include five exquisite Peruvian coffees, three of which highlight their beloved Foundational Partnership in Cusco.
Passenger has been recognized as one of the top coffee roasters in the country and with more than 30 coffees available at any given time, continues to provide one of the most expansive menus available anywhere.