There’s an ultra-bitter battle brewing in the nerdy world of high-end specialty coffee.
Hydrangea Coffee Roasters — a hip, cult-favorite Berkeley roaster with a fanatic, global following among bean geeks obsessed with rare, fruit-fermented roasts — has been plunged into scandal after a bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against founder Bill Li (also known as Chengxi Li).
Hydrangea and Li were sued last week by employee Ashlynne Wike — who alleges Li subjected her to months of unwanted touching, invasive questions and increasingly disturbing behavior.
Wike filed her complaint Aug. 25 in Alameda County Superior Court, and accuses Hydrangea of failing to prevent harassment.
Li met Wike at a coffee expo in April 2025 — and engaged her via Instagram direct messages to serve as Coffee Roaster and Procurement Lead at a $70,000 annual salary, according to the suit.
Wike has her own following within the industry — taking home second place in the respected 2026 US Brewers Cup Championship.
Meanwhile, Hydrangea has developed a dedicated following for its unusual fruity roasts, high-end beans, and prices to match — offerings can cost a jolting $51 for a four-ounce bag.
Wike relocated for the job, moving from North Carolina to California without housing or means of transportation yet, the company arranged for her to stay at Li’s Berkeley apartment.
While staying there in June 2025, the court filing alleges that Li “touched her thighs and tickled her stomach” on two separate occasions while showing Wike “how to perform work tasks on the computer.”
On another occasion in June, Wike claims Li “attempted to put his hands inside the waistband of her pants,” and days later she alleges he “came up behind her, put his hands under her shirt onto her stomach, and moved them upward toward her chest.”
In July, the complaint states that Li grilled her about “whether she was a virgin, how many men she had dated, whether she would date a shorter man, and her sexual orientation.”
From taking photos of Wike without her consent, entering her apartment without permission, to preventing her from leaving a holiday party, the suit paints Li as a predator who preyed on an employee from his position of power.
Hydrangea’s attorney told SFGATE that the company was aware of the lawsuit and that employees, customers, and business partners “may have questions.”
The legal battle has set off a furious firestorm in influential online coffee-lover hangouts — like Reddit’s r/pourover and r/espresso, where fuming enthusiasts from around the world are suddenly swearing off their former fave — and revolting against board moderators accused of actively stifling discussion of the scandal.
“Just posting so people can make more informed purchasing decisions; I sure as hell won’t be buying anything from him anymore,” one disillusioned java lover posted on an r/espresso thread, linking to the lawsuit.
While there was no shortage of chatter about the case online, devotees of the r/pourover board were crying censorship — claiming posts about the suit were locked within minutes, creating a scandal within an alleged scandal.
“Protecting abusers is not a good look,” one user protested.
Others urged a wait-and-see approach.
“‘Innocent until proven guilty’ applies to the justice system,” one Redditor cautioned. “This is a comment thread on social media, people are free to read the allegations and make their own judgement.”
The suit alleges that Hydrangea never provided the state-mandated sexual harassment training — and did not take any reasonable steps to prevent the alleged harassment, “despite being put on notice,” claiming Wike “continues to suffer severe emotional and mental distress and anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, shock, pain, discomfort, and anxiety.”
