La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti
Rashida Chavis for NPR
When Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti met at a grunge concert in Seattle in the 1980s, they were an unlikely pair. But they shared a love for great coffee, and the two friends began to dream about opening a cafe and premium roastery that would produce coffee at a higher quality than anything available in the U.S. at the time.
A few years later, Todd and J.P. co-founded La Colombe Coffee Roasters in Philadelphia, and went on to play a leading role in the "third wave" of specialty coffee in the U.S.
Today, their coffee drinks are widely available in grocery stores all over the country.