This week marks National Speciality Coffee Week in America, and a growing coffee company from Evanston, Ill., has joined the industry’s elite — with plans to branch to DeKalb.

Casteel Coffee, welcomed to the Speciality Coffee Association of America as this week’s official Chicago-area sponsor, is a batch-speciality coffee roaster started in January 1993. Owners include Adam and Carol Bezark, as well as roastmaster Lee Casteel, who founded the company.

Casteel brand coffee can be found in many restaurants and coffee houses around Chicago. A move to DeKalb would put it among a handful of local coffeehouses, including The House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway, and Mister Crum’s Bakery and Cafe, 203 W. Lincoln Highway.

The theme for National Speciality Coffee Week is “Speciality Coffee is a Love Story.” Although Casteel does not have a special Valentine’s Day blend, it offers a large amount of basket gifts including speciality coffees and other retail items, Adam Bezark said.

Ted Lingle, executive director of the Speciality Coffee Association, which established the special week in 1997, said Casteel is a perfect company to represent the Valentine’s-week theme.

“The only thing a true connoisseur of speciality coffee loves more than a fresh roasted, freshly brewed coffee is a good company to go with it,” Lingle said.

Bezark said the company’s commitment to joining people together over coffee has contributed to its success.

“Speciality coffee unites many people from all over the world,” he said. “The common link is excellence. Speciality coffee is, by definition, the best of the best. The people who grow it, harvest it, process it, broker it, roast it, retail it and, most importantly, drink it are committed to this excellence.”

The company will celebrate National Specialty Coffee Week with a showing at its Evanston location Friday.

“We will set up a roasting demonstration and sampling,” Bezark said. “Our primary purpose will be to educate. We will start with what is called ‘green coffee,’ or the original, harvested beans. Customers can touch the beans, strip them before they are roasted and then assist in the process of roasting the various blends.”

The company aims to help customers and others interested to become more aware of certain coffee blends and ways in which they are made.

“We tell our customers that our coffee is carbon-dioxide processed, which is less common than your average coffee company,” Bezark said. “There are 40 blends of coffee, with over half of them originating from separate origins. We also inform people that the best of the best coffee is grown at high altitudes that ensures the best tasting blends.”

Bezark described a few of Casteel’s unique blends made from beans from all around the world.

“We offer a French roast sumatra that is directly imported from Indonesia, which is our most popular dark roast,” Bezark said. “We also make a San Francisco blend which is our most popular. But our newest blend, which has all of us excited, is the Day Break blend, which is a snappy, flowery and fruity blend that is essential to waking up.”

Most of Casteel’s coffees are priced anywhere from $9 to $11 a pound and can be purchased at its Evanston location or online at www.casteelcoffee.com.

Since 1993, the company has grown significantly, being recognized by industry experts both locally and nationally. The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal previously has recognized Casteel Coffee and raves about Lee Casteel’s product and success.

“Casteel’s perfectionism works, ” the publication claims. “[We’ve] tasted some of the best coffee [we’ve] ever had as a result.”