MEET THE MAKER

Rainshadow Coffee Roasting Co. is a small, family-owned coffee roasting company located in Sequim, Washington, that the father-and-son team of Don and Nick Batcheller have been operating and growing together since 2012. Nick likes to say that his dad, Don, built the company, and he created it. With Don's mechanical construction, design, and craftsmanship skills combined with Nick's experience in customer service, retail, and product design, they make a stellar team. Alongside two tremendously valued employees who keep the local bean scene thriving, they roast coffee three to four days a week on custom roasters that Don and Nick's brother designed and built together.

The Rainshadow story began when Don sold his '32 Ford coupe—a project which he had poured five years of work and his life savings—to purchase an old Ambex coffee roaster that had survived a fire in San Diego. He drove a beat-up pickup truck down south and brought the machine back to Sequim, where he meticulously dismantled, redesigned, and refinished it. By 2009, the family started roasting premium-grade specialty coffees in small batches inside a side-street warehouse. Friday morning tastings and two weekly farmers markets quickly created a loyal community of bulk coffee buyers, leading to a handful of local wholesale accounts.

The need for a larger roaster and a dedicated retail space arrived much quicker than expected. In 2012, they opened their café in downtown Sequim and soon after designed and built a larger roaster to sustain their forward momentum. Around this time, they also collaborated with local Pacific Northwest watercolor artist Todd Fischer, who created the distinctive artwork for their labeling and branding. Over the next several years, the café developed a steady pulse, becoming a gathering place in Sequim for cultural events, good food, and a wide variety of delicious, unique coffees from around the world. Today, Rainshadow Coffee can be found in restaurants, coffee shops, and markets across the Olympic Peninsula and neighboring communities throughout the Puget Sound area.

While the Rainshadow Café in Sequim continues to be the premier retail outlet for their fine coffees, the roasting operation has moved to a new facility a few miles down the road. There, they still roast on the two custom, hand built Rainshadow roasters they built themselves. They remain dedicated to producing the highest possible quality by sourcing fine, direct-trade, ethical, and naturally produced coffees from small farms, roasting them in precise batches on their custom-built, traditional analog machines.

The team at Rainshadow looks forward to crafting their product just as much as they do consuming it, expecting nothing shy of excellence from every batch. They put immense care into their work, recognizing that every bag that goes out the door is a special experience for someone. As Nick puts it, "It’s really fun and rewarding to make treats for a living."