The Story
Sightglass began as an aspiration to source, produce, and share distinctive, quality-focused coffees. In 2009, we began with a small, rickety service-cart in San Francisco’s SoMa district. Equipped with a few Chemex pots and a leaky vintage 2-group espresso machine, we served coffee to the neighborhood just behind a roll-up garage door housed in a sturdy 1914 built warehouse.
Founded by brothers Jerad and Justin Morrison, Sightglass Coffee set out to do more than simply roast beans—they wanted to tell the story of coffee from bean to cup. Starting with a modest cart in SoMa, they quickly attracted attention for their dedication to transparency and traceability in sourcing. By forging direct relationships with farmers worldwide, the brothers ensured not only exceptional quality but also fair compensation for the producers.
Two years and many coffees later, the entirety of this warehouse would become our production roastery, a dynamic & unconventional coffee bar, a community gathering space, and our company headquarters. In 2010, they opened their flagship roastery and café on 7th Street, a space that became a beacon for coffee enthusiasts. Sightglass soon expanded into San Francisco’s Mission and Divisadero neighborhoods and eventually into Los Angeles, now having four locations each maintaining the brand’s signature minimalist design and focus on the craft of coffee.
Several years after its launch, the company raised funding from Twitter and Square co-founder Jack Dorsey, as well as multiple rounds from VC firm GingerBread Capital. In 2024, the Morrison brothers stepped down from the business to pursue other endeavors , with former Starbucks executive Sharon Healy assuming leadership as CEO.
Sourcing & Relationships
All coffees are sourced in freshly harvested lots through direct relationships with producers and cooperatives committed to quality and sustainable business practices. We travel to origin throughout the year, exploring new coffee sources, checking in with cherished producers, and offering premiums for quality.
Jose Lepe, the Director of Sourcing and Quality Control at Sightglass Coffee, calls this Relationship Coffee. “Having a direct relationship with Sightglass allows producers to reinvest continuously on their farm. With the premiums paid, they are able to renovate the farm, upgrade their processing equipment, or expand.”
The long-standing partnerships we nurture are built upon trust—trust that our producers will convey to us what they need to thrive and trust that we will do everything we can to support them.
Jerad and Jason Morrison, the owners of Sightglass Coffee, practice Direct Trade. They buy straight from growers in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and elsewhere. In addition to providing a fair price for small farmers and encouraging them to develop sustainable, ecologically responsible practices, building these close relationships affords greater control over the quality and consistency of the final product.
Sightglass holds USDA organic certification through CCOF and sources most of its annual coffee from small farms following ecologically responsible practices.
The company emphasizes transparency throughout their supply chain. We believe that knowing the story behind your coffee—where it was grown, how it was processed, and who handled it along the way—is a powerful link from the cup to the wider world.
Being a smaller company, as differentiated from some of the huge coffee chains, Sightglass can buy harvests of single origin coffees from smaller farms that allow them to present some unique coffees that are not available to the larger importer.
Roasting Philosophy
Our company takes its name from the ‘sightglass,’ the viewing window on our vintage PROBAT coffee roaster that exposes the complex and delicate process of roasting coffee.
Our machine here in San Francisco was made in 1962 and is pretty much set up the way it was when it was first built.
I like that ours keeps us in touch with the old aspect of roasting, like we’re part of a lineage. The fun and challenging thing for me is how to approach a newer palate for coffee while using something that’s been around for decades.
Our objective as a coffee roasting company is to recognize the intentions of the people who have contributed to producing our coffees and express these intentions through our work. We view roasting as one piece of the larger collaboration between our farmers, sourcing partners, and finally baristas and home brewers.
We practice small production methods that allow us to scrutinize and perfect our processes. Attaining a perfect roast is an intuition, a smell, a sound, a slight change in color— it’s about careful attention to detail that comes through in every cup.
We source seasonally, roast locally in small batches and only after you order to ensure you get the freshest coffee, and focus on building coffees that reflect the care behind every step from the people who grow them to the way you brew them.
The whole roasting process is like an alchemical process: art and science meeting together to create something special. A lot of people think of alchemy as changing lead to gold, and that’s kind of what we do with coffee.
What to Try
These coffees go into classic blends like Blueboon, Toketee, Owl’s Howl, Banner Dark, Crown Point, and Hunky Dory.
Blueboon is an incredibly versatile blend and a cornerstone on our offerings. This is our go-to Saturday morning cup, perfect for any brew method and approachable enough to satisfy any palate. Their Owl’s Howl Espresso stands as another signature offering, while components and flavors change seasonally, this espresso roast invariably delivers a balanced and refined experience. We rotate the components that comprise this blend throughout the year to ensure optimal freshness, giving us the opportunity to showcase beautiful coffees that pair well together.
Our single origin menu rotates throughout the year, following the rhythm of global harvests. Some coffees return year after year, while others are fleeting and only available for a short time. It’s a collection built for exploration, one that reflects both the season and the relationships we’ve built at origin.
On our single origin menu, Worka Chelbessa from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia is certified Organic.
At Sightglass, every coffee we offer is thoughtfully sourced, carefully roasted, and deeply considered, but some coffees earn a special place in our community’s daily rituals. Our Tried & True Favorites collection brings together the blends and single origins that customers return to again and again. These are our most reordered, most talked-about offerings, chosen for their flavor clarity, balance, and versatility across brew methods.
Our full coffee collection features everything we roast—single origin coffees that celebrate place and process, blends crafted for balance and versatility, and espresso offerings trusted in our cafés every day. You’ll also find decaf roasted with the same intention as the rest of our lineup, and instant coffee that proves convenience and quality can absolutely go hand in hand.