More room to roast: Popular Tacoma coffee company expands production, opens second cafe

For 13 years, Bluebeard Coffee roasted 30 pounds of beans at a time in a cozy little corner of its Sixth Avenue cafe. In July, the company moved production to a much bigger facility — and new headquarters — in South Tacoma, where you can also enjoy a splendid cup every day but Monday.

The original shop remains open and thriving seven days a week, now with a bit more seating than before.

“We’re really excited about both of our spaces,” said founder Kevin McGlocklin this week.

The “STW roastery, HQ and little cafe” opened July 24.

This leg of the Bluebeard journey began about six years ago, said McGlonklin. The original space couldn’t accommodate a larger roaster, but growth beckoned. His search eventually led to 5428 South Tacoma Way, joining the likes of Beyond Thunderdome Cafe (where you can get Manifesto Coffee) and Howdy Bagel (serving Olympia Coffee), among many other bars, restaurants and music venues on this vibrant stretch.

“This is kind of the last neighborhood that could handle roasting and retail,” he said, although he didn’t necessarily set out to do both. “We identified this as a roastery,” and he purchased the building in 2021.

The cafe portion sits in the front, where the windows open up to an outdoor counter, great for people-watching. Find a seat inside, too, where tables and chairs flank the coffee bar, outfitted with a La Marzocco espresso machine and Nuova Simonelli grinders.

The coffee here — from the flagship The Narrows Espresso Blend and El Capitán Latin American Blend, to single-origins purchased direct from farmers — is just as pristine as the Sixth Avenue original, thanks no doubt to tenured staff that have made the move south.

A TACOMA COFFEE STAPLE

Established in 2011, Bluebeard is one of Tacoma’s oldest roasters, a cornerstone of Sixth Avenue and, more broadly, the city’s cafe culture. McGlocklin, who was raised around Tiger Mountain in Issaquah and worked in the nascent days of digital media for ESPN.com in Bellevue, moved here from Seattle after working with his cousin at Lighthouse Roasters, still standing in Fremont. (Lighthouse also shepherded the founders of esteemed Pacific Northwest roasters including Portland’s Stumptown Coffee.) He spent some time in Mexico and Latin America as an undergraduate at the University of Washington, which, in part, spurred an interest in one of the region’s main agricultural exports.

With the new space, his staff has grown from around 10 or so people to nearly 20, with a full-time sales manager and two roasters, Sam Ropes and Magdalena Ramos-Shafer. In recent weeks, since turning on the new, German-made Probat roaster, they have been continuing Bluebeard’s focused style of balanced coffees — none too dark, none too light, highlighting the natural flavor components of the bean’s origin.

There’s always “a little learning curve on a new roaster,” said McGlonklin, but they have already zeroed into a sweet-spot, making only “little tiny tweaks” while cupping every batch.

They can now handle 35 to 45 pounds an hour, with the ability to continuously roast — a characteristic of simultaneous heating and cooling mechanisms of the machine. It has “effectively tripled the output,” added McGlonklin.

It was no easy task, he laughed, to transform this 1928 building into a modern coffee roastery. For much of the 20th century, it was Kelly’s Furniture Co., remnants of which you can see in the mezzanine (not accessible to the public).

It required brand-new electrical systems, updated to the gas and water service, abatement of an asbestos situation discovered in the floor tile (replaced with befitting concrete), and a serious vent that runs from the roaster and up through the very high ceilings.

He had help from Tacoma-based Ferguson Architects, which also recently unveiled its work at Woven Seafood and Chophouse on the waterfront. Local designer Ryan Spence tracked down window panels from the old Maritime Center on Thea Foss; they now separate the cafe space from the roastery, through which you can see (and smell!) the action.

After three years of all that, joked McGlocklin, he’s excited to get back to business.

“We get to now spend our time on our coffee.”

BLUEBEARD COFFEE STW

▪ 5428 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, bluebeardcoffee.com

▪ Tuesday-Sunday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

▪ Details: new HQ/roastery plus cafe from veteran Tacoma coffee roaster; look for producer meet-and-greets and tasting events in the future

This story was originally published August 2, 2024 at 10:21 AM.