Build-Outs Of Summer: Pilcrow Coffee of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Here we are, together at last, sharing with you the final cafe featured in our 2016 Build-Outs of Summer series. It’s been a whirlwind tour around the country together over the last few months, sharing the thrill of the build and checking out new coffee stuff happening hither, dither and yon. No build was too small, no project too ambitious—we’ve had a wonderful time sharing these build-outs with you, and expect a fun by-the-numbers post-mortem look back at the series coming soon.

But for now, a final build. Milwaukee is an imperfect city full of some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and home to a coffee scene that’s light-years ahead of most cities its size. Add to that roster the all-new Pilcrow Coffee, a  roaster-retailer with big plans for a combined storefront & industrial warehouse space. They’re stocking it with state-of-the-art gear and will even be operating a fleet of cold brew tricycles—once the weather’s nice, we’re assuming.

From Milwaukee to your screen, and from all of us at Sprudge, thanks for being a part of this year’s Build-Outs of Summer series, and let’s take a look at one more together. This is Pilcrow Coffee of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As told to Sprudge by Ryan Hoban of Pilcrow Coffee.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Pilcrow Coffee is a new coffee roaster in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our focus will be to establish direct-trade relationship coffees and we also want to have a nitro cold-coffee bike arm of our business.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

We currently are building out a 700-square-foot storefront space that will be utilized as a training bar for wholesale clients along with being open to the public in a very limited capacity. We also just secured a grant from the city of Milwaukee to build-out our roasting operations behind our retail storefront in a 1800-square-foot industrial warehouse. The plan is to connect the two spaces once the rear is completed.

What’s your approach to coffee?

We like single-origin, well-developed, transparent, relationship coffee. Our approach is to do our best not to screw up all the hard work put in by farmers and producers, but to roast and serve their coffees carefully and thoughtfully.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We purchased a single-group Slayer from a former wholesale client of the owner while he worked at another roaster in Chicago. We have two 20-gallon cold coffee brewing kettles from Spike Brewing here in Milwaukee. We have two white Mahlkönig EK 43 grinders for filtered coffee and a Mahlkönig Peak for espresso duties. We also have a FETCO batch brewer and a BUNN hot water tower. Oh, and we will have two nitro trikes cruising the Brew City streets in those rare moments when it is warm enough to ride. We also have it planned to purchase a 12-kilogram Probat for our roasting operations.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

Front of house is hopefully going to be up and running by October 1. The roasting space will hopefully be finished for us by January 1.

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

We have been working with Megan Jurvis to develop the branding guide and ensure we are staying true to what we want to be and communicate.

Photos courtesy of Ryan Hoban.

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