By Oliver Strand June 6, 2011 11:15 am June 6, 2011 11:15 am

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times James Freeman at Blue Bottle Coffee in Brooklyn.

When the news broke last week that a private equity firm had taken a stake in Stumptown Coffee Roasters. one of the nation’s top boutique roasters, officials from both companies indicated they were just building a few cafes and roasting plants.

“I brought in an investor, a buddy of mine, who brought in some money so that I can do the things I want to do, Stumptown ’s founder, Duane Sorenson, said of Alexander S. Panos, a managing director of the firm, TSG Consumer Partners .

But TSG’s interest in high-end coffee seems much broader than that. Officials of four of the nation’s top high-end coffee companies say that TSG has also approached them, even seeking a controlling interest in at least one case. Some of the conversations, these officials say, took place after TSG invested in Stumptown.

Todd Carmichael, an owner of La Colombe Torrefaction. a Philadelphia roaster with coffee shops there and in New York, said that in mid-May Mr. Panos and another TSG official met with him in a La Colombe warehouse and offered to buy a controlling stake.

According to Mr. Carmichael, Mr. Panos said that he oversees a $900 million investment fund. “He asked if I had any contacts with people like Counter Culture, Intelligentsia or Blue Bottle, and whether or not I thought they would be selling, too,” Mr. Carmichael said, referring to other top roasters.

And while Mr. Sorenson and Mr. Panos have both said that TSG did not take control of Stumptown, Mr. Carmichael said Mr. Panos told him, “I just bought 90 percent of Stumptown from Duane Sorenson,’’ apparently to demonstrate the seriousness of his offer for La Colombe.

TSG has made a name for itself by investing in consumer brands and reselling its holding for a healthy profit. TSG has invested in companies like Terra Chips, Voss Water and Smart Balance, and it sold its stake in Vitaminwater for $677 million in 2006. That it would be interested in companies like Stumptown and La Colombe would have been unthinkable not long ago. They are specks next to giants like Starbucks or Peets Coffee and Tea or Caribou Coffee. and their spread beyond a few hometown cafes is so recent that it was news when Stumptown and others began arriving in New York City just three years ago.

But these small companies are seen as having raised the standard of excellence in coffee. Some, like Stumptown, are known for their willingness to find and support small-scale growers, meticulously select beans and carefully roast them.

They have independent identities among those who care deeply about coffee. So news of an outside investor’s involvement surprised many in the coffee world.

Mr. Carmichael first publicized it in a posting on Esquire.com’s Eat Like a Man blog last Tuesday, writing disapprovingly that “Duane Sorenson, the founder of Stumptown, the Che Guevara of the rock-star barista movement, sold his life’s work to the highest bidder.”

Neither Mr. Panos nor Mr. Sorenson would respond to Mr. Carmichael’s account of his meeting with TSG officials. Mr. Panos also would not respond to comments from other coffee companies that his firm has expressed interest in them.

One of them, Brett Smith, founder and president of Counter Culture. a roaster based in Durham, N.C. said that representatives from TSG reached out to him several times in recent months. Mr. Smith said he spoke with a TSG executive last week. “As a matter of courtesy I called back and said ‘Thank you very much, but we’re not looking for outside investment,’ ” he said.

James Freeman, the owner of Blue Bottle Coffee. a roaster based in Oakland, Calif. with coffee shops in San Francisco and coffee shops and a roaster in New York, said he met with two representatives from TSG in March.

One of the partners in Joe. a family-owned company with six coffee shops in Manhattan, said that TSG contacted the company two weeks ago.

Neither Mr. Smith, Mr. Freeman nor the partner in Joe would elaborate on their discussions with TSG.

Mr. Panos, said in an interview last week that he invested in Mr. Sorenson’s company because we love Duane and his culture and his values. He added, “I could have invested in anybody – we looked at some of the players – but my feeling is he’s the best.”

But while Mr. Panos wrote in an e-mail that “the completion of our investment” in Stumptown was on May 9, TSG approached both La Colombe and Joe after that.

It’s not unusual for investors to cold-call small, successful coffee companies and offer financing, but many in the industry say that they almost never respond. TSG seems to have been more successful.

“I get lots and lots of calls from software to banking relationships to real estate to ‘Hey I got this great idea,’ to somebody who wants to sell me something,  Mr. Smith of Counter Culture said. “I answered this one because they were persistent and they were courteous.