Blog — award winning

Our co-founder Sam Schroeder returned from Portland with a shiny first-place trophy from the U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship... and half a mind to take a couple days off after a very long weekend. So, after some well-earned rest, he was gracious enough to meet us back in our Training Lab to chat about what’s next at the World stage of this competition. And to make one of his winning cocktail recipes: a custom creation that he's whimsically dubbed the "Hot Mama." For competition, Sam was tasked with mixing up three cocktails: two of his own creation, one hot,...

We know our Gatta Anaerobic is good. Crazy good. Good enough to take to competition, even. Still, when Coffee Review in their March tasting report awarded this recent Ethiopian micro lot with a soaring 94 points, we were blissfully over the moon. Gatta Anaerobic is Olympia Coffee's first-ever anaerobic coffee from Ethiopia, sourced from producer Kenean Dukamo of Gatta Farm in Sidamo. It also happens to be the only lot on Coffee Review's list that hails from the African continent. While more farms in Latin America seem to have jumped on anaerobic processing, the trend has picked up more slowly...

Four of us from Olympia Coffee took a road trip down to Los Angeles last weekend for the Big Western Barista Competition to represent the Northwest Region in the Brewer's Cup and Barista Competition.  Honor Forte a Barista and our Wholesale Relationship Manager and Alexander Choppin a Barista and the Manager of our Capitol Boulevard store both competed in the Brewer's Cup.  Honor brewed our Kenya Gatomboya and Alexander brewed our Ethiopia Ademegorbota.  When all was said and done, Honor came 1st place and Alexander came in 2nd.  A huge win for both baristas and our company as a whole. ...

  Before January 1st, back in November of 2012 it was announced that we were Roast Magazine’s 2013 Micro Roaster of the Year. Naturally, we celebrated by throwing a huge party at our roastery on the November 15th our 7 anniversary of being in business. Our party was covered by the Weekly Volcano, and featured excellent coffee, organic beer, tamales and live music by Lazer Zeppelin and The Maxines. Capitol Boulevard build out By the time the first of the year rolled around we had just signed a lease on what was to become our Capitol Boulevard Coffee Bar. This...

Blind Assessment: Rich, fruit and brandy. Cherry, blueberry, milk chocolate, brandy, lily-like flowers in aroma and cup. Lively, effervescent acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Rich and sweet in the short finish, slightly drying in the long. Notes: A blend of a Costa Rica coffee from the distinguished Lomas Al Rio mill and a Colombian coffee produced by the OCCICAFE cooperative in the La Plata region of Huila, Colombia. Olympia Coffee Roasting is a small-batch wholesale and retail roasting company with a youthful, no-nonsense style and a commitment to high-quality organic coffees. Visit www.olympiacoffeeroasting.com or call 360-753-0066 for more information. Who Should...