Did you know? Tuesday, Sept. 29 is National Coffee Day, and we're celebrating with a behind-the-scenes look at one of Charlotte's favorite roasters.

Editor Maria here. I recently toured Night Swim Coffee's South End flagship with the company's director of coffee to learn more about what goes into your morning cup.

From bean to brew

Located at 4500 Old Pineville Rd., the flagship in LoSo combines a coffee shop with a working roastery. It's where the team transforms green coffee beans into the roasted blends and single-origin offerings served at Night Swim's cafes across the region.

During the tour, Night Swim's Director of Coffee Evan Wood walked me through the roasting process, explaining how the team brings out the distinct flavors of each coffee and showing me the high-tech equipment that helps make it happen.

"Coffee is so inseparably and deeply human," Wood told CLTtoday. "Coffee is the seed of a fruit; that fruit is hand-picked off of trees by humans, and I get to print them on a label and sell hundreds of bags with their name on it and like tell their story. That part is really cool."

A coffee workshop with the focus on a white machine and trash bins that are filled with coffee beans. — The Sovda coffee sorter uses cameras to sort coffee beans by color. | Photo by CLTtoday

Dissecting flavor profiles

Light roast, dark roast, French roast. What's the difference? At Night Swim, those familiar labels aren't the focus. Instead, the company takes measurements of each batch of green coffee beans, including density and moisture, to determine how to roast them.

"Anybody can roast coffee really well one time, but like doing it repeatedly is the hard part," Wood said.

A coffee shop interior with couches, plush chairs, long tables, and bar seating. — Night Swim Coffee offers plenty of seating and free wi-fi for gatherings and remote work. | Photo by CLTtoday

More coffee, please

Night Swim grew out of a collaboration between two local coffee businesses: Not Just Coffee and Undercurrent Coffee. The flagship isn't just a place to watch coffee being roasted. It's also a chance to sip the finished product and get a taste of the care that goes into every cup.

Can't make it to LoSo? There are six other cafes across the Queen City worth visiting.