Find some of the South Sound’s best pastries at these coffee shops, now baking their own
Olympia Coffee Roasting has always served pastries at its shops around the South Sound, but now the recipes are fully its own.
The 16-year-old company, based in the Washington state capital, formally announced its new baking enterprise in April, after 10 months of quietly supplying all six of its Puget Sound cafes with flaky croissants, including a twice-baked almond version, and idyllic kouign-amanns.
Now called Moonrise Bakery, it replaces what was Le Rêve Bakery and Café in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. Pastries produced there, at 1805 Queen Anne Ave. N, are shipped daily to Olympia Coffee shops — three in Olympia, two in Seattle and one in Tacoma.
They will remain exclusive to these seven locations, and we are lucky to have them in our backyard.
Like so many things of the past year-plus, this project was born of and accelerated by the pandemic. Olympia had, since its first shop opened in 2007, supplied sweets from fellow capital business Left Bank Pastry — named one of Food & Wine’s 100 best bakeries in America in 2020. When daily life ground to a bumpy halt last spring, the French patisserie stopped wholesaling to focus on building its own storefront. That left Olympia scrambling, said co-owner and CEO Oliver Stormshak, adding that pastry accounted for 15 percent of their shops’ sales.
He and business partner Sam Schroeder turned to the roaster’s first wholesale partner, Le Rêve. It started with them “begging” owner Andrea Nakata to fill the sudden void, according to a release, but then turned into her sharing a desire to move on. That led Olympia to take the jump they had discussed for many years, said Stormshak: getting into the bakery business.
“It really became crucial to our survival,” Stormshak told The News Tribune and The Olympian in April. “The product is awesome. Left Bank has a great reputation, and our pastry goes head-to-head with them now. We’ve really mastered our craft in this really short period of time, in just nine months.”
In Tacoma on a recent Saturday, the Proctor shop had plenty of options remaining mid-day, and per the barista’s cordial suggestion, the heated-up kouign-amann proved to be the rich, craggy croissant cousin, with essential extra sugar sprinkled throughout, promised by the traditional Breton pastry. From the Bretagne words for cake and butter, its French pronunciation is “coon-ya-maan,” but in the U.S. you’ll often hear “queen-ah-maan.”
Though they have gained popularity stateside in the past five or so years, it remains a somewhat elusive treat, due in part to their time-consuming nature — production takes thrice as long as standard croissants, said Stormshak.
Seattleites seem to appreciate the labor, as Moonrise regularly sells out before 2 p.m. They are already at capacity, said Stormshak, and potentially will add another production space or second Moonrise location in the near future.
BECOMING MOONRISE BAKERY
The Olympia crew officially took over last July, retaining the name while slowly integrating staff and developing recipes. Molly Rautenstrauch, who studied at the Culinary Institute of America, moved from her role as manager of the downtown Olympia cafe to lead the team at what is now Moonrise. Le Rêve’s production head Alex Martinez joined, too.
In Seattle, Moonrise also serves natural wines, selected with the expertise of Shawn Mead, co-owner of wine bar Petite Soif in Beacon Hill and Vif in Fremont. They have also slightly remodeled the space, notably expanding the outdoor seating area.
As a roaster, Olympia has carved an important niche not just in the Puget Sound but also in the international coffee industry. Its B-corporation status (only 2,200 such companies exist worldwide) means Moonrise will also “dig deep into our bakery supply chain,” seeking local grain and dairy producers and fair labor practices. The company’s Fair For All framework reaches beyond the mission of global fair trade standards, ensuring, for instance, that what we pay for a bag of specialty coffee here in the U.S. benefits the standard of living for farmers and their employees — not only distributors and middlemen.
The B-corporation certification process required two years of work, said Stormshak. Now Olympia works with even more local suppliers for products easy to overlook, like sugar, cups and napkins.
“It’s made us a much better company,” he explained. “The stuff that kind of felt like a commodity — we had to think about it differently.”
Baking, then, was the next frontier.
“As our customers are gradually coming back into our cafes, we’re seeing that when you go out, you wanna buy a latte and a bag of coffee, and a sandwich,” said Stormshak. “Make less trips, but that trip is a more intentional purchase and intentional experience.”
Moonrise in Seattle will expand its lunch options, while Olympia’s coffee shops will stock those delightful pastries, including the newest addition of an olive oil lemon cake and soon granola.
MOONRISE BAKERY by OLYMPIA COFFEE
▪ Moonrise Bakery, 1805 Queen Anne Ave. N, Seattle, 206-623-7383, moonrise-bakery.com
▪ Pastries, $3.25-$5, available at all Olympia Coffee cafes, takeout-only for now, olympiacoffee.com
▪ Downtown Olympia: 600 4th Ave. E, Olympia, 360-753-0066
▪ South Olympia: 2824 Capitol Blvd., Olympia, 360-943-9211
▪ West Olympia: 1706 Harrison Ave. NW, Olympia, 360-705-9451
▪ Proctor Tacoma: 2601 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253-433-3279
▪ Columbia City: 4824 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle, 206-906-9543
▪ West Seattle: 3840 California Ave. SW, Seattle, 206-935-4306