Community Coffee

Norman "Cap" Saurage started experimenting with coffee blends at his two downtown Baton Rouge grocery stores in 1919. Demand grew so fast that by 1923 he moved production to a converted barn, and by 1924 he'd left the grocery business entirely to focus on coffee. That was over a century ago. The Saurage family still owns Community Coffee today — no acquisition, no private equity, no corporate parent.

By 2005, Community Coffee controlled 52% of the coffee market in South Louisiana and 72% in Baton Rouge alone. That kind of market share isn't bought with a marketing budget. It's built over generations by making something people actually want every morning. Community is the largest family-owned coffee brand in the United States by the most recent figures available.

The coffee is a distinctly Southern style: full-bodied, often blended with chicory for the traditional Louisiana café au lait flavor profile. Beans are sourced from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, imported through New Orleans and Houston. Since 2002, the company has maintained a direct trade relationship with the Abahuzamugambi cooperative in Rwanda — the first direct contract between an African farming cooperative and an American coffee roaster.

Community Coffee has been on Southwest Airlines flights since 2016 and runs a well-established school fundraising program (trading UPC labels for donations to Louisiana schools) that's been running since 1988. The CC's Coffee House chain, spun off in 2013 to facilitate expansion, also remains under Saurage family ownership.

It's not a flashy brand. It doesn't need to be. It's what people in South Louisiana drink, and it has been since before World War I.

Products

• Ground coffee in various roast levels (light, medium, dark)
• Whole bean coffees
• Chicory coffee blends (traditional Louisiana style)
• Single-serve pods and capsules
• Cold brew concentrate
• Decaf options
• Seasonal and limited blends

Why We List Them

• Family-owned since 1919 — over 100 years under Saurage family ownership, no outside investors
• Largest family-owned coffee brand in the United States (as of 2005)
• Controls over 70% of the Baton Rouge coffee market — earned, not bought
• First direct trade contract between an African farming cooperative and US coffee roaster (Rwanda, 2002)
• CC's Coffee House spin-off also remains Saurage family-owned
• Deep regional identity; the coffee of South Louisiana