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The Roasting Plant's Coffee Beans Dance Overhead
Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld
4.17.07
In the increasingly competitive coffee-shop market, savvy independents keep searching for ways to trounce the Seattle Goliath. Some turn to rock-star baristas, others to the sanctity of their politically correct, sustainably grown beans. Roasting Plant, which opened last week on the Lower East Side, relies on new technology and Wonka-esque spectacle.
Founder Mike Caswell, an engineer and a veteran of the Coffee Connection and Starbucks (where he held the Orwellian title of "director of profit improvement," spent five years developing a system that would emphasize freshness, a crucial, if often ignored, requirement for great-tasting coffee. Roasting Plant�s goal, according to Caswell,... Read more