How the Pacific Northwest Became a Coffee Paradise
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Thanks to its soggy climate, its people’s proclivity for hanging out in cafes, and the local love for mood-modifying substances, the Pacific Northwest has shaped and influenced global coffee culture for more than 50 years. It’s the birthplace of America’s obsession with the espresso shot, its ongoing love affair with cold brew, and its underlying ethos of cafe cool. You can taste it in the streets, rising like so much cappuccino foam. Across state lines and generations, visionary entrepreneurs and artisans have built the Pacific Northwest into a globally recognized hub for coffee quality, technological innovation, and espresso bar culture.
Confident Coffee Roasters Founder and Roaster Amber Dietrich. All images courtesy of Confident Coffee Roasters.
Confident founder and roaster Amber Dietrich now runs her Diedrich IR5 machine inside a roughly 1,600-square-foot space, about half of which houses the retail cafe, in the town of Johnson, just north of Fayetteville.
Dietrich told Daily Coffee News that the cafe opening comes a bit sooner than was originally planned for the company, which roasted its first batches in March of last year.
“It was my intention to build the roasting side of my business for a few years before jumping back into cafe operations, but COVID changed that,” Dietrich told DCN. “The majority of my sales were from offices, co-working spaces and cafes, so when the shutdown happened, I lost most of my business overnight.”