Olympia Cafe

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 fresh 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. Sam Schroeder holding the 3rd place trophy he won in the 2015 United States Barista Competition. In 2009 Oliver Stormshak joined the team to help set up Olympia Coffees first direct trade project in Costa Rica. In 2010 Olympia Coffees founders wanted to sell the business. Buying a coffee business in the Pacific Northwest, the most saturated corner of the US, during a recession with coffee prices at a historic high seemed like a dubious proposition. However, Oliver and Sam could see the writing on the wall, they had both worked in coffee since they were teenagers, and their passion for coffee had only been growing over the years, owning their own coffee roastery seemed like more than the logical next step, it seemed like their destiny. In addition, they could see an opening in the market. The Pacific Northwest has a rich history of coffee with roots in the 60s and 70s, that set the stage for a vibrant coffee culture that thrived in the 90s. As the coffee culture started to saturate the northwest, innovative concepts and companies looked towards population centers where specialty coffee was emerging throughout the US and the world. Since the 90s the most exciting developments in coffee have been shifting away from the Pacific Northwest to cities like Los Angeles, Melbourne, and Oslo. Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest companies that help to create excitement for specialty coffee had become complacent in their success and averse to change and innovation. Oliver and Sam saw an opportunity with Olympia Coffee to create a strong independent coffee roaster in the heart of th