The Roaster Sits in Full View

Not tucked behind a wall. Not hidden in a back room. Right there, centre stage, in a nearly century-old red-brick building in downtown Shawnee, Kansas. The 18-kilogram US Roaster Corp machine hums while guests watch Kiersten Rex work through a batch of Colombian beans. No performance, no theatre. Just process, visible and unhurried.

This is Current State Coffee Roasting's first cafe, and the space itself makes a statement before anyone takes a sip.

A Building That Refuses to Be Decorated

The structure is pushing 100 years old, and co-founder Nick Robertson wanted it to lead.

We wanted the building to steer the design, because it is a historic building. Instead of design heavy, we wanted it to just be heavy.

Nick Robertson

Heavy it is. A rammed-earth bar with layered colours anchors the room. Solid walnut cabinetry lines the walls. Oak chairs, made from old church pews, sit beneath high arched ceilings supported by industrial rafters. Heated concrete floors. A garage-bay door that opens to a front patio with green metal chairs and potted plants.

We wanted it to feel like a factory that you're invited into to be a part of.

Nick Robertson

For anyone who has spent time in Sofia's specialty coffee spaces, there is something familiar here. Not the architecture, but the philosophy. The idea that a cafe can be a place of attention rather than distraction. That the process itself, visible and unadorned, is the point.

Fundamentals Over Novelty

Robertson, previously the green coffee buyer and co-founder of Kansas City's Messenger Coffee, built Current State with Josh Greenlee (owner of Seleno Coffee) and David Weber (Seleno co-founder). Rex, who leads roasting, was formerly head roaster at Messenger.

Their approach is deliberately narrow. The current lineup includes coffees from Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Peru, plus a decaf from Mexico, sourced through importers including Shared Source, Swift Coffee Sourcing, and Cafe Imports. No experimental fermentations. No carbonic macerations. No "funky" processing.

The concept of the brand is leaning into an early-2000s style cafe. You probably won't see a lot of funky coffees on the menu. In the same spirit of a high-quality Pilsner brewery, discerning quality in coffee or in a beer is about the fundamentals of processing, and not the imposing of other flavors to make it palatable.

Nick Robertson

This commitment to sourcing clarity echoes the approach taken by roasteries like Blue Bag Specialty Coffee in Sofia, where head barista Francisco Lopez works directly with verified farms to source beans at peak ripeness. Both operations reject the assumption that specialty coffee must be experimental. Instead, they ask: what happens when you truly understand a single origin?

Two Bars, One Philosophy

The espresso program at Current State splits into two distinct stations. On one end, a three-group La Marzocco Linea Classic paired with a La Marzocco Swan grinder handles the house program: rich, low-acid triple-basket shots in the old-school Italian tradition. Classic drinks, prepared without apology.

At the other end, a single-group La Marzocco GS3 and Bee House drippers serve single-origin espresso and manual pourover. Robertson calls this side the "more progressive American coffee perspective."

The duality is intentional. Not contradiction, but coexistence. The acknowledgment that different approaches to coffee can share a bar without hierarchy.

Presence as Practice

Current State's first roasted coffees hit the wholesale market late in 2025. The brand publicly launched in January 2026. The cafe at 11217 Johnson Drive in Shawnee opened this year.

Robertson is clear about what comes next:

Though the vision is simple, we've got a long way to go before we're perfect, so the next step is just trying to achieve perfection.

Nick Robertson

And then the line that holds:

The Current State brand is about being present, being in your current state, paying attention to coffee.

Nick Robertson

In a specialty coffee culture that often measures itself by novelty, by the next processing method or the rarest micro-lot, there is something quietly radical about choosing depth over breadth. About saying: we will do fewer things, and we will do them with attention.

The roaster is visible. The chairs are solid. The coffee is clean. The rest is just presence.