After a great time hanging with my friends at Batdorf & Bronson in Olympia — which was followed by a tee-rific lunch at Water Street (bomb pomme frites), Stephanie and Heather, both of Batdorf, took me over to the Espresso Parts & Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. compound. It was simply incredible, both the Espresso Parts operation, which is Martha Stewart Magic in terms of organization, and the Olympia Coffee Roasting Co., which connects to Espresso Parts via a short hallway, and includes a beautiful roasting room leading out to one of the most bitchen cafes I’ve ever seen. No wonder, really: Terry is a genius when it comes to combining gadgets, creativity and functionality.
My sister, Jen, has lived in Olympia for 20 some years now, and over the course of many visits to see her over the years, it’s been cool to see how specialty coffee has grown in the pretty little city of Olympia. There is a LOT going on there. It would be criminal for those road-tripping between Portland and Seattle to check out the coffee scenes not to make a long stop in Olympia. So awesome.
Dave White came out to greet us when we drove up. That’s Stephanie on the left, Heather on the right.
Here’s a typical scene at Espresso Parts. Makes me nervous, but those guys have a solid handle on things.
Onward into the roasting room. Here’s Sam with The Machine.
Ta da! The cafe. It’s BEAUTIFUL. Terry and Dave sourced all the materials from recycling depots. My favorite features? The bar faces and tables made of doors, the portafilter door handle outside, the fun use of Espresso Parts’ new laser cutting machine on the tiles, a la:
This is an especially cool tile. You kind of have to search for the lasered tiles, which is fun.
This is a custom milk-pitcher-rinser. No, that is not the technical term for it.
They even let some guy who visited — B. Wilson something or other — sign the Marzocco.