Blog — Specialty Coffee

Olympia Coffee and Moonrise Bakery are proud to announce that we have just been certified as a Living Wage for Coffee Employer! And not only that, but we've been awarded the highest tier, Living Wage Leading Plus. In our mission to improve the quality of life for our staff, our coffee producers, and and our communities, this independent certification is a huge step towards the kind of transparency and accountability we believe in and advocate for.

All love stories begin with that little tug on the heartstrings, that tiny inkling that one might have found something truly special. A little sappy, maybe, but for us here at Olympia Coffee, that “something special” has always been our relationships with our farmers and our commitment to improving quality of life for them, their communities, and the entire sourcing pipeline. And so, when it comes to our Sweetheart Blend— a mainstay on our coffee lineup— our farmers are at the very heart of it. With a certain notoriously saccharine holiday peeking around the corner, we’re waxing sentimental about the...

I've been in love with coffee from the Adame Garbota Cooperative for many years. Actually I've loved their coffee before they were even called Adame Garbota. You see I first tasted their coffee in 2006 when the Coop was called Kelo, and the Kelo Cooperative had just won the Africa Taste of Harvest Competition. I worked for a roaster that bought their winning lot, and I never forgot about it. After the competition, the cooperative received some loans and big financing that sadly organizationally they were not prepared for. In 2008 the Coop defaulted on loans and closed. In 2011...

2016 will mark our most serious year working in Ethiopia. Ethiopia tends to be our most popular Origin we source from. Customers and Baristas gravitate to it, I believe because of it's easy to identify flavors. The coffees of Ethiopia are totally unique to Ethiopia, no other origin could be confused with it in terms of flavors. Typically flavors lean to the fruity and floral side of the coffee descriptions.  Over the last six years we have been purchasing through two very large Cooperatives which represent thousands of small holder farmers. All our coffees are Certified Organic and Fair Trade....