James Howard always had an affinity for great coffee. Since the 70’s, what was an affinity for great coffee, transformed to a pursuit of all things coffee. After many years of travel in his airport ground equipment business, much was learned about coffee and coffee culture in far away places such as Europe, Indonesia, and the Latin America’s. The diversity was striking and inspiring. A personal coffee library evolved over the years and added to his knowledge base.

Upon the sale of his business of 17 years in 1993, He traveled extensively in pursuit of what independent coffee houses in America had to offer. It was discovered that the common denominator to great coffee houses of Europe and in the US was knowledgeable in-house roasting of quality beans and exacting standards of beverage preparation by trained barista’s.

After apprenticing under two roast masters to learn the art of selection, blending, roasting and cupping of coffee, he became the proud owner of a 12 kilo French Samiac cast iron drum roaster. This is an old school artisan small batch roaster, not a high tech fluid bed production roaster. Roasting the best coffee’s of the world in a fluid bed roaster is like putting racing fuel into a family sedan and entering it into the Indianapolis 500. It isn’t going to happen!

Noble Coffee & Tea opened on April 17^th 1996 before Starbucks was barely east of the Mississippi River. The concept was simple. Provide affordable fresh roasted quality bean, coffee and espresso beverages made to exacting technical standards, and combine with a comfortable coffee house environment in which to enjoy one of the best pleasures in life.

Welcome to our new website.  We hope to see you at our downtown Noblesville location soon!  Be sure to check out our latest specials and events, and feel free to contact us with any questions that you might have. 

See you soon!