Olympia Coffee Roasting’s continued growth and wider distribution draws attention
Like a longtime local band that’s hit the big time, Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. rose to another level in 2023.
The company, which has six Western Washington coffee shops and a Seattle bakery that supplies all the locations, began distributing its thoughtfully sourced and carefully processed beans through major retailers, including Costco, Fred Meyer, QFC and World Market, in February.
The company now is in the process of expanding its downtown Olympia location, at 600 Fourth Ave. E., into the space next door, formerly occupied by Arbutus Folk School, which also is moving into a bigger space up the street. Olympia Coffee Roasting’s 3,096-square-foot expansion will add more warehouse and office space and make room for a larger roasting machine.
The company’s broader recognition is the latest chapter in the story of Olympia Coffee, which has been growing steadily under the leadership of self-described “super coffee nerds” Oliver Stormshak and Sam Schroeder, who both worked at the business before teaming up to buy it in 2010.
“We both started working as baristas when we were in high school, and we did it because we needed jobs,” said Schroeder of Seattle, whose skill with espresso has been recognized in many competitions. “We both fell in love with it over time, and by the time we were working at Olympia Coffee Roasting, we were super passionate about coffee and where the industry was going.”
The two got to know one another when Stormshak started working at Olympia Coffee Roasting in 2009, and hit it off immediately. “I can say this now because Sam is one of my closest friends: I fell in love with Sam,” Stormshak said. “I thought he was the coolest person.”
“The feeling was mutual,” Schroeder said. “We see eye to eye on so many things.” Those things included where the industry was headed — and they’ve helped to lead it there since they bought the company with Schroeder’s brother Andy, who also lives in Seattle.
“We’ve always been about building our company for good and changing the world to make it a better place,” said Stormshak, the company’s president and green coffee buyer who lives in Olympia.
Olympia Coffee Roasting goes to great lengths for coffee, visiting individual farmers in Colombia, Kenya and other countries, tasting their coffees and working with them on each step of the process. “We are literally driving hours into the mountains visiting tiny little farms,” Stormshak said.
Stormshak has the tastebuds to choose coffee and the knowledge to guide growers on how to prepare beans for export, and he’s proven himself through testing and certification with the Coffee Quality Institute.
“Most coffee out there is a blend of all these different farms in a region,” said Schroeder, a graduate of The Evergreen State College. “What we’re buying is specific-day lots from specific farms. Even when we sell a blend, it’s a blend of specific-day lots from specific farms that Oliver has chosen.
“If it’s a micro lot, it’s one person’s coffee — maybe even one person’s single day of coffee — sold under their name,” he said. “It’s really different from most coffees that exist today.”
Olympia Coffee Roasting also does business differently than most. It’s a B Corp, or benefit corporation, meaning it’s verified to be working not only to make money but also to make positive social and environmental impacts, and it is accredited as a Living Wage Employer.
The company’s consistent growth, whether that means opening new stores or growing its wholesale business, is part of its mission to improve the lives of farmers and employees alike, Stormshak said.
“Since 2010, we’ve basically grown 20 percent year over year every year,” he said. “We’re a small business. The three of us own and operate and work in Olympia Coffee every day.
“In the last year, we have expanded into stores like Costco in the region, and that has drawn some attention, but it really isn’t outside the growth that we’ve experienced year over year.”
