Scott Carey founded Sump Coffee in St. Louis in December 2011, starting as a multi roaster operation before purchasing a 2.5 kilogram Diedrich and teaching himself to roast in July 2012. Carey logs every parameter by hand with a stopwatch and pen, marking data every 30 to 60 seconds, a deliberately analog process that now has over 13,000 roast hours behind it. Sump exclusively features single origin coffees, rotating selections by harvest season, and roasts to a Nordic style that emphasizes cup clarity and brightness over roast character. The philosophy is to showcase the true nature of the origin, not the roaster's hand.