Latte-loving Brooklynites looking for local caffeine will soon have more options, as the Brooklyn Roasting Company is back after facing hard times amid the pandemic and are better than ever, said the head black bean brewer.

“We are thrilled to have survived,” said Jim Munson, chief executive officer of Brooklyn Roasting Company. “At this point, we are on the other side of that and while it was difficult, it gave us a chance to really think hard about what we wanted to do going forward.” 

The coffee company faced hard times during the pandemic and filed for bankruptcy in October 2020 while closing down two of its cafes, saying they’d be focusing on the wholesale side of their business. Though a rep for the company said a judge later dismissed the bankruptcy in court. 

Now, though, the borough’s namesake coffee maker will expand their retail locations and launch a new brand in concert with The Breakfast Club’s Angela Yee. 

Munson’s company teamed up with Yee when the nationally syndicated radio host approached the company last summer to develop a small line of coffee under a new brand coined “Coffee Uplifts People” to help get out the vote. 

The collaboration — which, in addition to Yee, included her partners Tony Forte and Laron Batchelor — led to hundreds of coffee sales. Following that, Brooklyn Roasting Company decided to take the partnership a step further, helping the trio form their own coffee business designed to help introduce more minority and women-owned companies to the white monopoly of the coffee retail world, Munson told Brooklyn Paper.