Our Story
Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. was founded in 2005 as a wholesale coffee roaster. At that time Sam Schroeder was hired as the first employee to do production and deliveries. In 2007 the roastery moved two blocks from its original location and opened a coffee bar hidden away on a side street with the simple goal of selling freshly roasted coffee and brewing every cup to order. The store had just four tables and featured windows into the roastery to showcase the roasting process.
Today
Having strong direct trade partnerships allows unprecedented control over the flavors of a coffee. From varietal selection today lot separation to experimental processing we have never had a greater ability to seek out and shape the flavors we want to experience in a coffee. This combined with a better understanding of the science behind it, as well as a more detailed approach to, roasting and preparing coffee allows us to unlock those amazing flavors inherent in each coffee, which has, in turn, fueled our growth and our accolades.
Success and recognition feel great but what we really love is for creating and sharing extraordinary coffee with our community in the Pacific Northwest and with our friends throughout the world. Olympia Coffee's success is grounded in our quality-of-life mission, which has to lead us to create direct trade partnerships with coffee farmers worldwide in eight countries spanning 3 continents. Our company wasn’t born into success; it has been built that way from the ground up. Olympia Coffee’s humble beginnings started in 2005 in an unmarked warehouse in downtown Olympia. The story continues.
Awards
- Awarded 2nd and 5th Place at the United States Brewer's Cup
- Olympia Coffee was awarded 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Place in the Northwest Brewers Cup
- Awarded Micro Roaster of the Year by Roast magazine with highest scoring coffees in competition history
- Awarded 1st and 2nd Place Northwest Brewer's Cup - Good Food Award Winner for Ethiopia Konga Organic
- Olympia Coffee wins Best of Olympia, Best Coffee 2014
- Awarded 3rd place in United States Brewer's Cup
- Good Food Award Winner for Ethiopia Konga Organic
- Olympia Coffee wins Best of Olympia, Best Coffee 2018
- Awarded 2nd place in the United States Coffee in Good Spirits Competition
- Olympia Coffee wins Best of Olympia, Best Coffee 2019
We exist to improve the quality of life for our producers, our staff, and our customers.