Blog

Each month our green-coffee buyer Oliver writes a brief description of what's going on in each of the countries we partner with on our Direct Trade coffees. Starting this month we wanted to share this info publicly here on the blog and on our Instagram. Read on to see what's happening with your favorite coffees worldwide:   July in Colombia Our farming partners in Colombia have struggled with an extreme rainy season since March of this year. This has delayed the maturation of coffee cherries, increasing drying times and risk to farmers. During this abnormally wet period, coffee growers face...

If it feels like we *just* announced a new cafe opening for our partners at Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, well, that’s because we did. On May 5th of 2017 Sprudge brought you news of the brand’s expansion to West Seattle, and today, just 5 weeks later, Olympia Coffee are announcing the opening a forthcoming 1400 square foot coffee bar in the heart of Tacoma’s historic Proctor District. The new cafe will be locate at 2601 N Proctor Street, and is happening in partnership with the team at Lapis Tacoma, whose projects include the much-loved Compass Rose artisan gift shop and Captain...

News today from the Puget Sound massif, as South Sound roaster-retailer heroes Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. have signed a lease to open their first coffee bar in the city of Seattle, Washington. Speaking exclusively to Sprudge, Olympia Coffee Co-Owner & Green Buyer Oliver Stormshak confirmed the impending opening, happening at 3840 California Ave in West Seattle (corner of California & Bradford). Plans call for a cozy new cafe—600 sq. feet—located between the Junction and Admiral neighborhoods in West Seattle, occupying street level retail in the Rally live / work complex, currently finishing construction. Target opening day is October 1st, 2017, says Stormshak—“We’ve given ourselves...

It’s A Natural Wine Party With Vif & Olympia Coffee At SCA 2017 The 2017 SCA Event invades Seattle, Washington next week, and the Sprudge Media Network will be your home for all the events, happenings, parties, must-sees, show floor astonishments, Lyft mixtapes, and much more, plus the world’s best barista competition coverage happening on Sprudge Live. But before things get too crazy, we invite you to join us alongside Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Baratza, and the Long Miles Coffee Project at Vif Coffee|Wine for a very special evening of natural wines, live music, and joie de vivre. On Thursday, April 20th at 6pm the fine people at Vif—Seattle’s...

40 years ago El Salvador was the largest coffee producing country in Central America; today it's the smallest. So, what happened?  In large part, inequality during El Salvador's rise in coffee gave land ownership to the top two percent. This resulted in a civil war in the 1980's. Post-war El Salvador has struggled to recover. A weak national policy for the coffee sector, climate change, depleted and disease ridden coffee trees, lack of basic security, poor access to financing, and lack of labor are the main reasons El Salvador has struggled to keep pace. Is coffee in El Salvador doomed?...