Sondra Powell - Biography

February 2014

Sondra Powell’s Kentucky roots go way back, to the pioneering days of Ambrose Powell in the 18th century. She thinks of her coffee company as a love letter to Louisville, her adopted home town. Powell and her brother Jason are the entrepreneurial duo behind Red Hot Roasters in the Irish Hill neighborhood of the Derby City. The location is the site of their roastery, their wholesale space, and their quaint retail operation—eclectic 1960s vintage décor and all. Coffee is served by the cup through a drive thru window with a smile and a human touch. Knock on the door opposite the drive thru and have a cup and a peak into the roasting process and the style and savoir faire of Sondra, a self taught roaster, businesswomen, and ancestral pioneer. For Sondra, cups of Red Hot Roasters’s small-batch coffees are inseparable from good conversation—and she’ll always remember the name of your dog and how you like your cup-a-joe.