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Ray's Last Twenty-One Minute-Coffee's
Ray's Last Twenty-One Minute-Coffee's
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Ray's Last Twenty-One Minute-Coffee's
Roasted by Hand in a Boat Shed on Lake Superior
Ray Hollister, 71. Thirty-one years as a production roastmaster for one of the largest coffee companies in America — the man who set the machines. He walked out at fifty-two and has roasted every batch himself since, on a 1961 cast-iron drum, forty pounds at a time. This is the final run. The shed comes down and the drum stays behind.
"For thirty-one years I set the machines that roasted several million pounds a year, and nobody in that building ever said the word flavor to me. They were roasting for weight. Then my wife stopped drinking coffee, and I knew exactly why, because I'd been the one making it. So I bought a machine old enough to do it properly and started over."
— Ray Hollister, Duluth, Minnesota
In the Box
What Arrives at Your Door
One Full Pound
454 g — not twelve ounces. Roasted 21 minutes on the 1961 drum, forty pounds to a batch, dropped by ear.
Whole Bean or Ground
Tell him what you brew on — drip machine, percolator, French press, pour-over, espresso machine — and it's ground for it the day it ships.
A Roast Date, in Ink
Every bag is stamped by hand with the day it came off the drum. Not a "best by." The actual date.
90-Day Returns
Drink it for a week. If your mornings aren't better for it, send it back within 90 days for a full refund.
The Name Is the Method
What Happens in Twenty-One Minutes
A large commercial roaster runs a batch in ninety seconds to three minutes. Not for taste — for weight. Every minute a bean spends in the drum is water leaving as steam, and water is weight you can sell. Here is what the extra nineteen minutes are actually for.
The trade-off nobody mentions: a long, fully developed roast gives up a fifth to a quarter of its weight. A fast one loses about a tenth. That difference is the entire reason the industry roasts the way it does — and the reason this bag costs what it costs.
Why This Coffee
Six Things a Factory Roast Can't Give You
Every one of these is a decision that costs money to make. That is precisely why almost nobody makes them.
Twenty-One Minutes, Not Ninety Seconds
Push a bean through in ninety seconds and the outside colours up long before the inside catches up. You get something that looks roasted and isn't — dark on the surface, underdone in the middle, with a hard sour edge that never had time to cook out. Cut one open and you can see the pale centre. Twenty-one minutes is how long it takes for that centre to finish.
Thirty-One Years on the Other Side
Ray is not guessing at how supermarket coffee is made. He made it — charge temperature, airflow, drop time, the whole profile that several million pounds a year ran through. He knows exactly which corners get cut, because for three decades cutting them was his job description.
A 1961 Cast-Iron Drum, Run by Hand
Three thousand pounds of it, out of a shuttered roastery in Milwaukee. Forty pounds a batch. No profile software, no automatic drop, no recipe stored in memory. Second crack has a sound, and the drop is called on that sound — about four seconds to decide, after fifty years of deciding it.
Sixteen Ounces, the Way It Used to Be Sold
Most specialty coffee now comes in a twelve-ounce bag at a sixteen-ounce price. Ray has never sold anything but a full pound, to anyone, at any point in nineteen years — the same price to a neighbour as to a stranger.
A Roast Date, Not a "Best By"
A "best by" date tells you when somebody guessed the bag would stop being sellable. A roast date tells you when the coffee was actually made. Every bag carries the day it came off the drum, stamped in ink by hand, and it ships within two to three business days of that stamp.
What Isn't in It
People who describe coffee as "too strong" or "too sharp" are usually tasting something else: the sour edge left in an underdeveloped bean. A long, fully developed roast leaves less of it. Ray's wife Marlene stopped drinking coffee at fifty-two. She has had a cup of his every morning for fifteen years.
Roaster's Note
"Roast development is the part of this trade the public has never been told about. Colour is not doneness — you can take a bean dark on the surface in well under two minutes and leave the interior essentially raw, and at volume there is a real commercial incentive to do exactly that, because every point of moisture you retain is a point of product you get to sell. A twenty-one-minute drum profile at forty pounds is a working roaster's schedule, not a marketing number. It is long enough to finish the centre of the bean, and finishing the centre is what removes the sharp, sour note most people mistake for strength."
Dale Prentiss — Licensed Q Grader · 24 years on production roasting floors · Roasting instructor, Upper Midwest
How People Drink It
Ground to Order for the Way You Already Brew
What You're Promised
Five Things That Come With Every Bag
90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Make it the way you always make it — same machine, same scoop, no ceremony. Give it a week of ordinary mornings. If it doesn't belong in your kitchen, send it back within 90 days for a full refund. No questions, no forms, and you don't have to return what you've already drunk.
A Note From the Shed
Every batch is roasted by hand and dropped by ear, which means no two are identical. Colour and flavour vary slightly from batch to batch, and from bag to bag — a little more caramel in one, a little more cocoa in the next, depending on the green coffee and on what Ray heard in the last four seconds before he pulled the lever. A factory exists to eliminate that variation. This does not. Marlene packs every order herself and writes the roast date on the outside of the box as well as the bag, so you know what you're opening before you open it.
The Details
Product Specifications
| Weight | 1 lb / 16 oz (454 g) per bag |
| Roast Time | 21 minutes per batch — versus 90 seconds to 3 minutes for a typical commercial roast |
| Roast Level | Fully developed — carried through second crack, dropped by ear. The same roast profile a traditional espresso blend is built on |
| Batch Size | 40 lb, hand-loaded and hand-dropped |
| Machine | 1961 cast-iron drum roaster, approx. 3,000 lb — no profile software, no automatic drop |
| Origin | Washed Colombian with a portion of Brazil for body. Not exotic, and not meant to be. |
| Grind | Whole bean, or ground to order: drip · percolator · French press · pour-over · espresso machine · moka pot. For espresso Ray recommends whole bean — an espresso grind has to be dialled in to your own machine, and it goes stale within days |
| Freshness | Hand-stamped roast date on every bag — no "best by". Ships 2–3 business days after roasting |
| Storage | Airtight, at room temperature, out of sunlight. Not the fridge, not the freezer |
| Roasted By | Ray Hollister — 31 years a production roastmaster, 19 years on his own drum, Duluth, Minnesota |
| Shipped By | Marlene Hollister, from the shed |
| Final Run | 60 batches · 2,400 lb · 496 bags remaining — no restock, no reproduction, no second machine |
| Guarantee | 90-day full refund, no questions asked |
The Final Sale
The Final Sale
Message from the Artist:
After years of making things by hand, our workshop is closing. These are the last pieces we'll ever ship. Every item on this page was made slowly, carefully, and with more love than any factory could replicate. Nothing rushed. Nothing outsourced. Just real craft from real hands.
We're proud of every single one. We hope they find good homes.
When they're gone, they're gone — and so are we.
Shipping with UPS / USPS
Shipping with UPS / USPS
Free shipping across the United States
- Delivery time: 7–14 business days
- Insured: Every package is fully insured
🌳 Carbon-neutral shipping with UPS / USPS
800+ Happy Customers
Excellent 4.9
What Ray's customers are saying
Freqquently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
My wife and I personally respond to every single email — as fast as we possibly can. Whether you have a question about your order or just want to talk craft, we're here.
You can reach us:
- Mon – Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CT)
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (CT)
Email: info@craftfolk.com
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Of course. We stand behind everything on CraftFolk 100%. If you're not happy, neither are we. Just shoot us an email within 90 days and we'll make it right — no hassle, no headaches.
How are your products made?
How are your products made?
Every single product on CraftFolk is 100% handmade — crafted by hand, using only premium quality materials. We're proud to carry on a tradition of craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations.