About Us

How do you connect a community of coffee enthusiasts with one another and the people who grow, process, and roast each bean? We started Brio Coffeeworks to explore this question. Our answers so far?
  • Source exceptional coffees that clearly express the unique conditions and care under which they were grown.
  • Roast lightly to bring forward the sweet, vibrant and complex flavors that we love.
  • Create a space for shared learning and exploration of all things coffee.  

These are the tenets that inspire us to bring our all to each and every day here at the roastery. 

Meet Our Team

You won't find a more dedicated group of coffee professionals than our small team. We're working hard every day to make sure that our roasting practices reflect the latest thinking in the field of specialty coffee. This means making the best of our memberships in the Specialty Coffee Association, Barista Guild of America, and Coffee Roaster's Guild, attending trainings and reading everything that we can get our hands on. We hope that you're enjoying the fruits of our labors!

 

Magda Van Dusen

Magda takes the lead on curating the customer experience at Brio. Whether you walk into the roastery or serve our coffee at your cafe, she's carefully crafted the small pleasures that come with every cup. In 2019, Magda was a Glitter Cat trainee and competed in the U.S. Brewer's Cup qualifiers. Her team has no doubt that she's going to bring home a win the next time she competes. In either case, her rigorous training is being put to good use behind bar at the roastery.

Magda's happy place is pretty much anywhere warm--preferably in a hammock--with book and coffee in-hand. 

 

Nate Van Dusen

Nate is the brains behind our coffee selection and how we build roast profiles that bring out all of those fantastic flavors. A native Vermonter, he was convinced that Vermont was ready for light roast specialty coffees when we launched Brio in 2014. Since then, he's spent every day striving to perfect our roasting process and source the best coffees for our lineup. Nate is also a two-time U.S. Roaster Championship finalist (2019, 2020).

Nate's happy place is deep inside an espresso machine, right at the moment he discovers the problem that's been thwarting the barista. A close second is on the slopes getting fresh tracks on the season's best powder day. 

 

Emily Bean, Production Manager

Emily keeps track of all the pieces involved in moving coffees out the door. She handles the flow of green coffee into the warehouse, through the roasting process and out through shipping and delivery. She also does her fair share of roasting every week. Emily came to Brio in 2019 after several years working in production, logistics and retail for notable organizations in the Burlington area, most recently City Market.

Emily's happy place is wherever she can create a sense of “endless possibility:” exploring a new place, starting a new book, or being totally free to see where the day takes her.

 

Community

We approach our work with a great sense of responsibility and connectedness to our communities near and far. We feel fortunate to be able to do what we love and share that with our customers. We also know that there are a lot of needs that go unmet every day at all ends of the value chain that we inhabit. Through our amazing community partners, we're doing what we can to move the needle on improving livelihoods in all of the communities that our business touches.  Learn more about what they're doing!

Food 4 Farmers     Logo by Chris Webster - COURTESY OF SEABA      Pathways Vermont     Home - LGBTQ Community Center     

 

We are also a Fair Trade certified roaster, meaning that nearly all of the coffee that we buy from small farmer coops is purchased above the Fair Trade minimum price plus a premium that we pay directly to Fair Trade USA. The coffees that we do not buy from coops consists almost entirely of unique, high-quality lots purchased from individual small farms at FOB prices that are well above the Fair Trade minimum price.