Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell started roasting in a Marin County garage in 1995, four years before the French Laundry Blend. The roastery has been on Jordan Street in San Rafael since 2003, and in 2011 Equator became the first coffee roaster in California certified as a B Corp.
As of October 2026, Equator sources from more than 50 producers and co-ops in 20 countries and runs three San Francisco cafés: the Round House at the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Mason, and 222 2nd Street. Finca Sophia, the founders' farm in Panama, won Best of Panama in the Washed Gesha category in 2017 and 2020, and a Colombia Las Flores Thermal Shock Pink Bourbon took a 2026 Good Food Award.