Thunder Coffee

Thunder Coffee's Brewhalla bar is the retail end of a Fargo roasting company that started as a mobile pop-up in 2017, opened its first café in West Fargo in 2019, and moved into the Brewhalla market and event complex in March 2023. The espresso is its own, roasted a few miles away.

A roaster's counter

Roasting is the centre of the business. The company buys in-season coffees through sourcing partners and puts them out as espresso, batch brew and a rotating retail lineup rather than building a tea-led or syrup-led menu. Old Friend Espresso Blend is the clearest starting point: a washed light blend of Colombia and Peru, and the reference the bar keeps coming back to.

The rest of the list shows the range: Moonlightin' Decaf, a washed sugarcane decaf from Colombia; a Peruvian Gesha processed by extended fermentation; Party Animal, a natural from Ethiopia; and Lightning in a Bottle, an anaerobic natural from Peru. Behind all of it is a production roastery in North Fargo running a Mill City six-kilo machine, climate-controlled green storage and a cupping lab for evaluation and training, plus a workshop side servicing La Marzocco, Eversys, Mazzer and Mahlkönig equipment.

A counter inside Brewhalla

The Fargo bar sits inside Brewhalla's market and event complex near downtown, which gives it two speeds: a quick espresso or batch brew for people passing through, and a more considered order for anyone who came for the coffee itself.

The ambition behind it is stated plainly. Thunder describes itself as a community-driven company challenging specialty coffee's status quo, and the working goal is balanced, approachable coffee in a region its founders saw as underserved. It has since been named one of USA Today's 10Best independently owned coffee shops, which is some distance from a cart with three items on the menu.

Order Old Friend

Start with Old Friend Espresso Blend. The Colombia and Peru base and the washed light profile make it the house reference point, and it is the clearest expression of the balanced, approachable idea the company works to.

If filter is more your speed, batch brew is always on, and the rotating list is where the more particular coffees turn up: washed Colombian decaf, extended-fermentation Peruvian Gesha, Ethiopian naturals and Peruvian anaerobics. On the food side, keep it simple with a baked good or a breakfast item; the commercial kitchen at the production facility exists to grow that part of the business.