Roaster Spotlight: Old Soul from Sacramento, CA
AWC: How did Old Soul Co. get started?
Jason Griest: Old Soul Co. was Co-Founded by Tim Jordan and me (Jason Griest) in 2006 as a wholesale only micro-roaster and bakery off an obscure alley in Midtown Sacramento. Based on customer demand, we quickly became a coffee “speakeasy” with no set hours, an honor jar for payment and only batch brew coffee and pastries on the menu. Currently, we operate 4 cafes w/ actual cash registers, menus and set hours while still doing our wholesale thing. It’s been a wild 18-year ride, and we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
AWC: What major coffee awards has Old Soul Co. won?
Jason Griest: Old Soul Co. has won 30+ North American Golden Bean medals and the long-term sourcing project in Honduras we are apart of, recently was named a finalist for the 2024 SCA Sustainability Project of the Year.
While not exactly awards, we have also had over 25 coffees earn ratings of 93+ points by Coffee Review, including 4 that have been named to their annual Top 30 of the Year list.
AWC: How do you source your coffee?
Jason Griest: Tim and I had a few foundational concepts.
The main one was “make it ourselves” or know who does and only partner with the best. This concept has led to Old Soul Co. partnering with the same honey producing family since inception and buying farmland in the Sac Valley years ago. On the coffee side, we were blessed to travel to Origin for the first time in 2011 and switched to making our own mocha mix from scratch this year.
Currently, we have direct relationships of over 8+ years with multiple single farmers or community washing stations throughout the Americas & an adjacent type of relationship through boutique exporters and importers who specialize in specific regions in Africa.
AWC: What do you look for?
Jason Griest: A second foundational concept that Old Soul Co. has always believed in is quite simple: good people know good people. Yes, the coffee producers we work with year after year are some of the best at what they do but our relationships go way beyond a business transaction. We have developed true friendships with our partners and have been blessed to be a part of weddings, graduations, family meals and community festivals at Origin.
AWC: Is there a single coffee from Old Soul Co. that you are especially known for
Jason Griest: That’s a tough one to answer, but I’d say our Loma La Gloria offerings produced by Anny Ruth in El Salvador are always eagerly anticipated by our customers year after year and consistently win awards. The other fan favorite in store and online is our “Whiskey Dreams” Moka- Java Blend. It’s one of our only blends and came out of a long whiskey drinking session where one of the topics that came up was trying to re-imagine what is credited with being the world’s first coffee blend.
AWC: Do you have a favorite brewing set-up for your own coffee?
Jason Griest: We’re probably a bit like chefs who keep it simple when cooking for themselves. Our belief is that you need “solid but not fancy” equipment, and that ingredients are really the star. Both Tim and I drink coffee at home using either a French Press or batch brewer. My (Jason) home set up is a Ratio 6 brewer with a Baratza Encore grinder alongside the Espro3 French Press.