About
About Black Cup Coffee
Black Cup is an Anchorage specialty coffee roaster that began in 1975 as Cafe del Mundo, founded by Perry Merkel.
Merkel was inspired by coffee farms he visited in Central America and started roasting in a shed behind his home in Spenard, growing into several Anchorage cafés. He retired in 2011 and sold the business to Brad Bigelow and Tim Gravel of Kaladi Brothers Coffee, and in 2015 the brand became Black Cup. It roasts on a Probat G90 drum roaster built in 1953 in Emmerich, Germany, with 72 gas burners under a cast-iron drum, using custom profiles for each coffee aimed at sweetness, clarity and balance. Coffee is sold online and at its café on East Benson Boulevard.