I Have a Bean

About Us

I Have a Bean is a specialty coffee roasting company based in Wheaton, IL, built on a premise that sounds almost too simple: hire people that society has written off, roast coffee that nobody can argue with, and let the product do the talking.

Every pound is sourced from the top 1% of global coffee production and developed through the Nuance Roasting Process, a proprietary approach involving recursive roasting and repeated critical tastings until the profile is exactly right. Every order is roasted and shipped the same day, with the customer's name handwritten on the bag alongside the roast date and the roaster's signature. The tagline is Just Roasted. That is not marketing. It is an operational commitment.

The permanent workforce is made up of people released from incarceration. Not a transitional program. Real careers, with real expectations on both sides.

Founder Pete Leonard started I Have a Bean after watching his brother-in-law get passed over repeatedly, not for lack of ability, but for a checkbox. The company is a direct answer to that checkbox. Changing public opinion about formerly incarcerated people does not happen through press releases. It happens one extraordinary cup at a time.

The mission is local. The vision is national.

Visit ihaveabean.com to taste the argument for yourself.

Society wrote these people off. I Have a Bean flipped the script.