Quick answer: why Montana coffees have Montana names
Montana roasters name their blends after the state's towns, nicknames, mountains, work and history. Florence Coffee Company says its Miner's Blend is named for Butte. Philipsburg Coffee Roasters says names like Beaverslide, Draft Horse and Black Angus honor ranching in the Flint Creek Valley. Other names line up with Montana history on their own, and we explain those below without guessing what the roaster had in mind.
The names at a glance
| Coffee | Roaster, town | The Montana connection |
|---|---|---|
| Miner's Blend (dark) | Florence, Butte | Named for Butte, the roaster says |
| Signature Blend (medium) | Florence, Butte | Stands for Florence, the town where the first stand opened |
| Beaverslide, Hay-Lo, Draft Horse, Black Angus | Philipsburg Coffee Roasters | Ranching and farming in the Flint Creek Valley, the roaster says |
| Big Sky Blend; Big Sky Lift; Big Sky Organic | Morning Light, Great Falls; Yellowstone, Bozeman; Hunter Bay, Lolo | "Big Sky Country," one of the state's unofficial nicknames |
| Charlie Russell Roast | Morning Light, Great Falls | Shares its name with the cowboy artist who died in Great Falls |
| Smoke Jumper | Hunter Bay, Lolo | Smokejumper operations began near Missoula in 1942 |
| Grizzly Blend; Grizzly Peak Blend | Montana Coffee Traders, Whitefish; RamsHead, Shields Valley | The grizzly bear, Montana's state mammal |
| Rising Wolf | Montana Coffee Traders, Whitefish | Shares its name with a Glacier National Park peak |
| 1889 | Ghost Town, Bozeman | Matches the year Montana became a state |
| '81 | Montana Coffee Traders, Whitefish | Matches the year the company began |
| Big Timber (dark) | Yellowstone, Bozeman | A Sweet Grass County town on the roaster's list of local names |
Names from Montana work: mining, haying and fire
Butte's motto comes from mining. Wikipedia says the amount of ore the city produced gave it the nickname "The Richest Hill on Earth." Florence Coffee Company has roasted all of its coffee in Butte since 2023, and its roast guide ties the dark Miner's Blend to the city, next to a Signature Blend that stands for Florence in the Bitterroot.
A beaverslide is a hay stacker, and it was invented in southwest Montana. Wikipedia says two ranchers, Herbert S. Armitage and David J. Stephens, invented it around 1908 near Briston in the Big Hole Valley of Beaverhead County, and patented it in 1910. It pushes loose hay up a ramp to about 30 feet and drops it into loaf-shaped stacks that can weigh up to 20 tons. Philipsburg Coffee Roasters, owned by two couples since the fall of 2024, uses Beaverslide for its Rwanda and Ethiopia blend and names its espresso Draft Horse.
Smokejumpers are firefighters who parachute to wildfires. Wikipedia says permanent jump operations began in 1942 at Ninemile Camp near Huson, about 30 miles northwest of Missoula, and that the first training camp was at the Seeley Lake Ranger Station. Hunter Bay, which started in Missoula in 1991 and now roasts in Lolo, sells a blend called Smoke Jumper.
Names from the state's nicknames
Wikipedia notes that Montana has no official nickname but several unofficial ones: "Big Sky Country," "The Treasure State," "Land of the Shining Mountains" and "The Last Best Place." Big Sky shows up on three roasters' bags on our list. Morning Light's Big Sky Blend is a light roast of South American and African coffees, Yellowstone's Big Sky Lift is an organic medium dark, and Hunter Bay sells Big Sky Organic.
Our own club takes its name from the last of those nicknames.
Names from the land and its animals
The grizzly bear is Montana's state mammal, and Wikipedia says Montana has the largest grizzly population in the lower 48 states. Montana Coffee Traders sells a Grizzly Blend, and RamsHead a Grizzly Peak Blend.
Rising Wolf Mountain is a 9,513 foot peak in the Lewis Range of Glacier National Park, rising more than 4,450 feet above Two Medicine Lake, per Wikipedia. Montana Coffee Traders, which has roasted south of Whitefish since 1981, sells a coffee called Rising Wolf. The same roaster's '81 matches its founding year.
Big Timber, per Wikipedia, is the county seat of Sweet Grass County, with 1,650 people at the 2020 census. Yellowstone, roasting in Bozeman since 1998, sells a dark roast called Big Timber and a seasonal Free Range coffee that supports the Western Sustainability Exchange, a group working on people's relationship with the land.
Names from Montana history
Charles Marion Russell, known as Charlie Russell and "the cowboy artist," painted more than 2,000 pictures of cowboys, Native Americans and western landscapes, Wikipedia says. He died in Great Falls in 1926, and the C. M. Russell Museum there holds more than 2,000 of his works and belongings. Morning Light, roasting in Great Falls since 1989, sells a Charlie Russell Roast, which is also stocked at Sam's Club.
Montana became a state on November 8, 1889, according to Wikipedia. Ghost Town in Bozeman lists a blend called 1889 among more than a dozen. Our Montana coffee history post picks up the story from the mining camps to the first roasters.
Company names with a story
Some of the roasters explain their own names. Treeline began as a Bozeman food truck called Little Red Wagon and took its current name in 2016 to tie its coffee to time outdoors in the mountains. Mazevo in Billings takes its name from a Greek word meaning to gather. Philipsburg's roast names come from the valley around it, as above.
Taste the names
A name is a small thing, but it is one way a local roaster tells you where the coffee was roasted and who roasted it. Buying from them keeps that roaster open; our support local page says more, and the roaster list has every profile.
The Last Best Coffee Club sends a 12 oz bag from a different independent Montana roaster each box, every 2 or 4 weeks, at $16.99 a bag. The first bag is free and you pay $7.99 shipping on that first box. Skip or cancel anytime. The roasters here are local favorites we list, and a listing does not mean a roaster is part of the club. Pick your roast.
Montana blend name questions
What is a beaverslide?
A wooden hay stacker invented around 1908 by two ranchers in Montana's Big Hole Valley, per Wikipedia. Philipsburg Coffee Roasters named a Rwanda and Ethiopia blend after it.
Why is Montana called Big Sky Country?
It is one of several unofficial nicknames Wikipedia lists for Montana, along with The Treasure State and The Last Best Place. Three roasters on our list sell Big Sky coffees: Morning Light, Yellowstone and Hunter Bay.
Which Montana coffee is named for Butte?
Florence Coffee Company's Miner's Blend, a dark roast. Florence has roasted all of its coffee in Butte since 2023.
Who was Charlie Russell?
Charles Marion Russell, "the cowboy artist," who painted more than 2,000 western scenes and died in Great Falls in 1926, per Wikipedia. Morning Light in Great Falls sells a Charlie Russell Roast.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Butte ("The Richest Hill on Earth")
- Wikipedia, Beaverslide (Armitage and Stephens, about 1908, Big Hole Valley, the 1910 patent, 30 feet and 20 tons)
- Wikipedia, Smokejumper (Ninemile Camp near Huson in 1942; Seeley Lake training camp)
- Wikipedia, Montana (the unofficial nicknames; grizzly bear as state mammal; the largest grizzly population in the lower 48; statehood on November 8, 1889)
- Wikipedia, Rising Wolf Mountain (9,513 feet; Lewis Range; 4,450 feet above Two Medicine Lake)
- Wikipedia, Big Timber (county seat of Sweet Grass County; 1,650 people in 2020)
- Wikipedia, Charles Marion Russell (dates, "the cowboy artist," more than 2,000 paintings, the Great Falls museum)
- Every blend name, roast level, founding year and what each roaster says about its names: the roasters' own pages as summarized on our roaster profiles, checked 2026-09-27. Where a roaster does not explain a name, the connection above is ours, not the roaster's.
By Joe McRose, Last Best Coffee Club. Updated . Blend names and what roasters say about them from our roaster profiles, checked 2026-09-27; the history behind the names from Wikipedia.