Ordinary Coffee Roasters is a German specialty roastery based in Frankfurt am Main that plays with the meaning of its own name. Here, “Ordinary” doesn’t mean ordinary, but rather an effort to transform an everyday cup of coffee into something unexpected and memorable. The roastery focuses on distinctive, unconventional, and flavor-rich coffees designed to push the boundaries of what specialty coffee can taste like. Their selection features coffees with an emphasis on origin, processing, and a distinctive flavor profile, whether it’s filter, espresso, or more experimental lots.
Behind the roastery are Levin Schrey-Exner and Jonas Hoffmann, two longtime coffee enthusiasts who founded Ordinary as a space for their own approach to specialty coffee. According to their own description, they are united not only by an obsession with flavor but also by the belief that coffee can be a medium for storytelling, experimentation, and connecting people. Levin has experience in Frankfurt’s coffee scene, including at Hoppenworth & Ploch and Drei.Kaffeebar, where, according to the Frankfurter Rundschau, he also met Jonas. Their goal was not to open “just another café,” but to build a place where they would control the entire process—from coffee selection and roasting to service and education.
Ordinary’s mission is based primarily on respect for farmers, transparency, and the courage to select coffees that are not interchangeable. The roastery emphasizes that behind every lot stands a specific producer, their work, their risk, and their story, and that specialty coffee is not a trend for them, but a commitment to the people who grow it. They source coffee directly whenever possible, or through trusted importers with long-standing relationships with the origin. They roast in small batches with the goal of highlighting the bean’s natural character, not masking it with roasting. Each coffee is meant to reveal where it comes from, how it was processed, and why it tastes the way it does.
When it comes to awards, Ordinary does not base its communication primarily on a list of medals, but rather on credibility, transparency, and its gradually growing position on the Frankfurt specialty coffee scene. More visible than competition awards at Ordinary is their clearly articulated approach: respect for producers, working with distinctive lots, and an effort to show that even a seemingly ordinary daily ritual can be exceptional.