February 2026 Journal: James Beard House & NYC Coffee Catering
· Oval Coffee Roasters Journal
February brought Oval’s whole bean lineup to Sprouts stores nationwide, placed brewed coffee service in several distinctive New York City settings, and raised a familiar question about roast level and caffeine.
Oval’s February rollout at Sprouts
Archive note: This section records the February 2026 rollout as company history. Oval Coffee Roasters is not currently stocked at Sprouts Farmers Market. Use the current Store Locator for today’s shopping locations.
In February 2026, Oval returned to Sprouts as part of a rollout reported at more than 460 stores nationwide. The custom coffee-aisle display presented Bowling Green Women-Grown, The Natural Natural Process, and Riverside Half Caff together as one whole bean lineup.
The three products offer a balanced Women-Grown light roast, a fruit-forward natural process coffee, and a Half Caff blend. Their product pages contain current purchasing and availability details.
Coffee service at the James Beard House
In January 2026, Oval served coffee at the James Beard House during a private gathering produced by longtime partner Resident Hospitality. The West Village townhouse was James Beard’s home and remains an important setting in American food culture.
The dedicated watch page preserves the setup and its context. Oval’s current catering page explains today’s drop-off brewed coffee and tea service for New York City offices, meetings, private events, hospitality, and brand activations.
Coffee service shaped around the room
Two additional February projects showed how coffee presentation can respond to different environments. These are historical event examples; they do not redefine Oval’s current drop-off catering offer.
Pampered Chef at One Manhattan Square
Oval brewed Bowling Green Women-Grown coffee on Pampered Chef’s Deluxe Coffee Machine, demonstrating the coffee in a different preparation and event setting.
INKEY in the Meatpacking District
A polished thermal-carafe presentation was arranged to complement a styled dining setting with floral work from Takata Nursery.
Coffee question: does light or dark roast have more caffeine?
The practical answer
Roast color alone does not reliably tell you how much caffeine will be in a finished cup. Coffee variety, dose, grind, water, brewing method, extraction, and serving size also matter.
Dark roast can taste stronger without necessarily containing more caffeine. Roasting changes coffee’s mass, density, porosity, and soluble composition, which is why comparisons based on equal scoops, equal bean counts, equal weight, or equal extraction can produce different answers.
A 2024 study by Lindsey and colleagues examined 30 combinations of green-coffee variety, roast degree, and brew time using an AeroPress brewer. Under identical brewing conditions, its darker samples generally produced lower caffeine concentrations than light and medium samples; at identical extraction yields, darker samples generally produced higher concentrations. These results describe the study’s tested coffees and brewing conditions, not measured caffeine levels in Oval products. They show why roast level alone is not a dependable shortcut for predicting caffeine in your cup.
Read the peer-reviewed study on roast degree, extraction yield, and caffeine.
If the objective is intentionally lower caffeine, choose a documented decaf or Half Caff coffee instead of relying on roast color. Riverside combines caffeinated coffee with decaf in a 50/50 blend, although that ratio does not guarantee an exact caffeine amount in every brew.
Explore Oval coffee by format
Whole bean coffee
Grind for your preferred brewer and compare Bowling Green, The Natural, Riverside, the three-bag variety pack, and the monthly subscription.
Pour Over Single Serves
Real ground coffee in built-in drip filters, each sealed in its own packet. Brew with hot water and a suitable mug, without a machine or grinder.