Nearly 25 years ago, Eiland built a 10-by-20-foot barn on his property to set the foundation of his eponymous coffee company. This was well before the convenience of YouTube and niched platforms; he’s entirely self-taught using experimentation and expertise passed down from prestigious roasters around the country.
It was his first sip of coffee at Café Vita, a Seattle-based coffee shop, that set him on this path. There, he discovered what coffee could be and was determined to bring it back to Dallas, at a time when Starbucks dominated the city’s independent coffee scene. Despite the barrage of pink drinks and pumpkin cold foam, he succeeded in bringing milk texturing and ristretto shots to Dallas. Since then, Eiland’s ethically and directly sourced beans have gathered their own cult following.
The 1969 Roaster
Eiland attributes part of his coffee ingenuity to his 1969 German cast-iron Probat UG-22, which is regarded as one of the best coffee roasters ever produced and is now one of the hardest to find, having ceased production in 1972. Eiland spent years searching for his, and it's now the focal point of his roastery. The cast iron of the roaster heats the coffee beans evenly and molecularly faster than modern techniques, so when the coffee cools it becomes sweeter rather than abrasive and acidic. The difference is obvious with the first sip, even for us coffee amateurs.
The legendary roaster, combined with Eiland's experience and expertise as a coffee Q Grader — what a sommelier is to wine — makes a cup at either of his facilities distinct among the sea of coffee shops sprawling across the metropolitan area.
“I’d put our coffee against anybody,” he says.
Coffee's Common Language
The road to becoming a Q Grader is long and arduous, requiring much more than understanding the merits or regions of one coffee over another. The goal of the weeklong exam is to be able to evaluate the true essence of coffee using calibrated and objective answers. Those with the title use a common language that improves the quality of coffee and the lives of those who produce it.Coffees are rated on a 100-point scale.
“Specialty coffee starts at 80, but I don’t buy anything less than an 86," Eiland says. "Eighty-four to 85 typically don’t make the cut. Once you get to 88 it gets rare and hard to find.”
He had a few 90s come in this year, one of which was from Colombia. It sold out in 24 hours and was one of the top 20 coffees he's ever had.
“We had maybe three 88-plus coffees last year. This year we are releasing 15 or more. Some 90-plus from small, rare micro-lots that range from 80 to 200 pounds. They will sell out in days. There hasn’t been another local roaster who released that many 88-plus coffees in a season,” says Eiland.
You can find out for yourself at one of the company's two locations, both in Richardson: the Eiland Coffee Roastery and the Eiland Coffee Shop in Canyon Creek.
The Eiland Coffee Roastery
The Eiland Coffee Roastery is tucked away in a micro warehouse district of Richardson (532 N. Interurban St). Blink and you’ll miss it. All of the beans are imported, roasted and packaged here, so if you want some as-fresh-as-you-can-get coffee beans, this is the place. They roast five days a week using beans from Ethiopia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama, to name a few. Oh, and if you purchase a bag of beans, you get a cup of coffee on the house. 
The standing espresso bar inside serves a succinct menu with traditional hot and cold options, as well as a small section of “not coffee” drinks right above the daily brews. If you ask nicely, you can get a mini tour of the facility and see how they roast and process all their coffees. If you’re serious about your cup of joe or keen on learning more about coffee, definitely ask for the tour.
Eiland Coffee Shop
Eiland's space in Canyon Creek (2701 Custer Parkway) is a jack-of-all-trades coffee shop. Inside, indoor and outdoor seating is decorated with a French New Orleans design and accented with purple hues. The menu is well done in a sort of day-to-night style. Coffee and pastries in the morning; beer, wine and savory bites for the evening. Or vice versa … Who’s to say?Products from several bakeries fill the pastry case, but the shop also offers scratch-made cheesecake and Eiland's signature eggs benedict breakfast sandwich. Croissants and other tidbits from Carte Blanche are on the way, and you can expect a serious chocolate chip cookie to make an appearance any day. The coffee options are seemingly endless with traditional and unique brewing methods that you can customize with nearly a dozen syrups and milk options, including macadamia nut milk.
We’ve popped in on multiple visits to try something new, but most recently we rang in the fall season with the spiced mocha and pumpkin loaf. There are subtleties of the Mexican chile within their house-made mocha milk that give this drink a slight kick while still keeping things sweet. The pumpkin loaf was made traditionally with a spongey interior and subtle glaze. Some other highlights from our previous visits have been the Eiland lemonade and dirty chai.
After traveling to a few of his partner farms earlier this year, Eiland says he’s sourced some of the best coffee in his career, and these will be available almost every week until the new year. If you want to get your hands on some, they’re typically previewed and released online through their email list (at the bottom of the page), Instagram and Facebook page. There will also be stock at the roastery, Canyon Creek shop, on their website and some wholesale customers' coffee shops around Dallas. All the more reason for us to cash in another free cortado at the roastery.
Eiland Coffee Roasters, 532 N. Interurban St. Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Eiland Coffee at Canyon Creek, 2701 Custer Parkway, No. 917. Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
