WhereMinneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Since2013
FamilyProduction drums
History
Mill City is the nickname of Minneapolis, the city of the Mississippi's flour mills. The company that takes it up does not begin by building, it begins by selling. Its 2014 site offers drums of 1 to 6 kg bearing TJ references. The presentation page, signed Steve G., states the position bluntly. The machines are built to order in China, shipped to Minneapolis for inspection, then delivered to the customer. Mill City handles customs, transport, warranty and technical support. In 2016, the catalog also distributes Israeli Coffee-Tech machines. The shift to its own design comes afterward. An in-house range, the MCR series, replaces the imported references. Around it settle a roasting school, a green coffee trading business and a roast-tracking software, RoastPATH, launched in December 2023. In September 2024, the company moves into 401 Harding Street, in the northeast of the city, in a complex built in 1950. Nearly 3,700 m2 in all: 650 m2 of fabrication shop, 465 m2 of roasting, 297 m2 of training room. The shop obtains CSA certification in early 2025. Without it, a gas machine does not pass North American installation codes. The M series, cut and welded in Minneapolis, is presented on January 27, 2026. The manufacturer sums up its turn in one sentence: having started building in China in 2013 did not mean it did not know how to build itself. It adds that American tariffs weighed on the schedule, without being at the origin of a four-year-old project.
What it makes
Gas-fired horizontal-drum roasters, except the MCR-2E, which is electric. All models have a stainless steel double-wall drum. A 3 mm air gap separates the outer wall, which takes the heat from the burner, from the inner wall, which touches the bean. This gap spreads the heat instead of letting it concentrate at a single hot spot. The manufacturer draws a specific argument from this. Conduction, that is, the heat the bean takes up by contact with the metal, stops marking the surface even when the incoming air is very hot. The frame follows the same principle. It is a block of heavy sheet metal welded in one piece, double-walled and heavily insulated, designed as a heat reserve. Burner power, airflow and drum speed are adjusted separately. The operator can therefore shift the split between conduction and convection, the heat carried by moving air, at will. A numerically controlled modulating valve doses the gas continuously, instead of opening and closing in steps. The gas train, the set of components that bring and meter the gas to the burner, is designed by the company and CSA certified. The machines run on propane or natural gas, the conversion being done on site. The electrical panel comes from a UL-certified shop, which spares the customer a case-by-case electrical inspection. The drum is fitted at machining to within 0.025 inch, or a little over six tenths of a millimeter. Since 2026, the M series comes out of the Minneapolis shop. It has a 6,000 W fiber laser and a 2,000 W laser welding station. Added to these are a 5-axis Amada press brake of 150 tonnes, plate rolls, and Haas and Milltronics machining and turning centers. More than four hundred distinct parts per machine are produced there. The M series drum has no through shaft, so nothing cuts the bean mass at its middle. The MCR series, called legacy, is still built in the Shenzhen shop.
The models
Two ranges coexist in September 2026. The MCR series, known as legacy, comes out of Shenzhen. It starts with two 2 kg machines, the gas-fired MCR-2D at 20,500 dollars and the electric MCR-2E at 19,500. Next come the MCR-3D for 3 kg at 29,600 dollars, the MCR-6 at 33,800 and the MCR-10 at 41,600. Then come the MCR-15, whose price is not displayed, and the MCR-20 at 65,000 dollars. The top of the range is held by the MCR-30 at 98,000 dollars and the MC-60 at 169,000, both delivered with a loader. The number in the name gives the capacity in kilos. A 500 g sample roaster, the MCR500, completes the bottom of the range at 9,100 dollars. It works from 100 to 600 g, with the same double-wall drum as the large machines and fully manual settings. The M series, built in Minneapolis, exists in 6, 10 and 20 kg. It takes the same names as the legacy series, MCR-6, MCR-10 and MCR-20, followed by the mention M-Series. Its September 2026 prices are 38,200, 47,000 and 72,000 dollars. At equal capacity, the Minneapolis machine costs 11 to 13% more than the Shenzhen one. A 3 kg and a 30 kg were announced for summer 2026, they were not in the catalog in September. A 1 kg machine has existed and is resold used, it no longer appears in the new catalog.
What you gain
The double wall and its 3 mm air gap protect the bean, since the sheet metal that touches it never sees the flame. The temperature of the incoming air can therefore be pushed without marking the surface. The mass of the insulated frame gives its heat back between batches, which supports four full batches per hour. Load flexibility follows: from 20 to 120% of nominal capacity, or 2 to 12 kg on a 10 kg. The manufacturer claims 60 decibels at the drum, enough to hear first crack without straining the ear.
What you lose
What protects the bean slows the machine. Heat has to cross an air gap and two walls before reaching the charge. A burner correction therefore arrives late. You anticipate instead of catching up. The mass also costs in transport and floor space. A 6 kg M series arrives in three crates, 1,838 pounds in all, or 834 kg. An MCR-10 measures 1.52 m by 2.69 m and needs 2.90 m by 4.06 m of floor. The vent must be Category III positive pressure, a separate expense. Nothing goes below 2 kg in production. Finally, making in Minneapolis costs the customer more: 5,400 dollars more on a 10 kg, at identical capacity.
Gray areaThe year of founding is published nowhere. The manufacturer writes only that it began building in China in 2013, which is not a date of company creation. It is nonetheless the oldest year that is certain, and it is the one retained here. No Minnesota registry was consulted: the exact corporate name, the registration date and the ownership remain unknown. Steve Green is named general manager by the trade press in January 2026, and Angie Davis vice president in February. Nothing proves that either founded the company, and their earlier careers could not be established. The Internet Archive captures could not be consulted again during this verification, the service being inaccessible from the workstation. The elements that come from it therefore rest on a single reading. These are the first capture of the domain, on October 15, 2013, which returns a 404 error. They are also the first capture showing a site, on October 3, 2014. And finally the page signed “Steve G.,” the TJ references of 2014 and the Coffee-Tech machines of 2016. The status of the Shenzhen shop is not clear. The manufacturer speaks of “our team” and presents it as the only laboratory-certified roaster manufacturer in China. It does not say whether it owns this site, whether it holds a share of it or whether it subcontracts there. The date on which the MCR series replaces the imported references is not established. A post announces a matte finish “new for 2020” for the MCR series, which places the name at the latest in that period. The Harding Street complex is presented as a company facility, without it being known whether it is purchased or leased. The amount committed has not been made public. The American transition cannot be read to the day. The first machines made in the United States were announced for autumn 2025, the public presentation took place at the end of January 2026. The gap is explained nowhere, and the made here page was still announcing autumn 2025 in September 2026. The duration of the project varies by source: four years according to the manufacturer, five years according to the press. M series prices rose between February and September 2026, without a word of explanation. The press announced 34,800, 42,800 and 64,800 dollars, the site displays 38,200, 47,000 and 72,000. The site also contradicts itself on its tooling: 150 tonnes for the press brake in the launch post, 140 tonnes on the made here page. The price of the MCR-15 is not displayed. On the technical side, much is missing. No burner power is published, in either BTU or kilowatts, for any model. Gas consumption, drum diameter, length and speed range are not either. The manufacturer does not say whether the drum is solid or perforated, nor where the air passes through the mass of beans. The exact position of the burner relative to the drum is not described. The weight of the MCR series machines is not given, only that of the M series crates is. The figure of four batches per hour and the 60 decibels come from the manufacturer and have not been verified by a third party. No patent search could be run: the general search engine was exhausted during this work. No independent test of the machines was found. The number of machines built, the workforce and the revenue remain unknown.
Manufacturer's website millcityroasters.com, page Coffee roasters made in Minneapolis (pages/made-here), accessed September 2026, including the sentences on the start in China in 2013, on the CSA certification of the Minneapolis shop in early 2025, on the UL-certified shop for electrical panels, on the first American machines announced for autumn 2025, on the Shenzhen shop and on the effect of tariffs; same site, MCR-10 product sheet, sections Chassis, Drum, Fuel, Gas Electricity and Venting and Layout, survey of September 2026, including the 3 mm air gap, machining to plus or minus 0.025 inch, the 60 decibels, the flexibility of 20 to 120%, the four full batches per hour, the Category III positive pressure vent and the dimensions of 5 feet by 8 feet 10 inches assembled, 9 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 4 inches on the floor; same site, product sheet M Series Coffee Roasters in 6-20 kilogram capacity, prices of the three variants and packing of the 6 kg in three crates of 1,200, 365 and 273 pounds; same site, product sheet 500 Gram Sample Roaster MCR500, price, range of 100 to 600 g and manual settings; same site, product sheet 60 Kilogram Coffee Roaster with Loader MC-60; same site, Coffee Roasters collection and product site map, prices and model list surveyed in September 2026; same site, blog post “The World's Best Commercial Coffee Roaster: Introducing the MCR M-Series,” January 27, 2026, on the 6,000 W fiber laser, the 2,000 W laser welding, the 5-axis Amada press brake of 150 tonnes, the Haas and Milltronics centers, the more than four hundred parts and the shaftless drum; same site, post “Introducing matte finish for the MCR series coffee roasters, new for 2020”; Daily Coffee News, “Mill City Roasters Moving Into Massive New HQ in NE Minneapolis,” September 17, 2024, for the 40,000 square feet, the 7,000 square feet of shop, the 5,000 of roasting, the 3,200 of training and the 1950s building; Daily Coffee News, “Mill City Roasters Unveils M-Series Machines with In-House Fabrication,” February 17, 2026, which quotes Angie Davis, vice president, and gives prices of 34,800, 42,800 and 64,800 dollars as well as the 3 kg and the 30 kg expected for summer 2026; Daily Coffee News, “Mill City Roasters Launches RoastPath Software and Sharing Platform,” December 15, 2023; Sprudge, “Mill City Roasters Moves Fabrication To Minneapolis, Unveils Flagship M-Series,” January 29, 2026, which names Steve Green general manager and speaks of a five-year development cycle; Sprudge, “Mill City Roasters Expands Operations In Northeast Minneapolis,” September 19, 2024, for the address 401 Harding Street Northeast and the 1950 building; Internet Archive archives for millcityroasters.com, About page captured September 8, 2014, home page captured October 3, 2014, January 6, 2016 and March 7, 2018, earlier reading not renewed.