the urraco story

Title

It all began in the summer of 1992. A church group from Shelton First Baptist Church went on a mission trip to Honduras to work on the construction of a new church in Tegucigalpa. On that first trip were two families that would eventually create Urraco Coffee Company. One of our original founding members, Jeff Brady, was a leader on the mission trip. Our other founding member, Matt Dorcy, was only a sophomore in high school at the time and was one of the team members on this first trip. Matt’s brother Mike, and parents, Kevin and Kathy, were also on the initial trip to Honduras. This initial trip would leave an impression on the Brady and Dorcy families that would last a lifetime.

Jeff continued to go on multiple trips to Honduras over the next several years. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated the gulf coast of Honduras, and Jeff jumped into full time action moving his entire family to La Ceiba, Honduras to help with the rebuilding process full time. Over the next six years Jeff and his family lived and watched their children grow up in Honduras. One of Jeff’s daughters fell in love and married a Honduran national who had come from a small village called Urraco, just a couple hours drive into the mountains from La Ceiba. Through Jeff’s relationship with his son in law, Jeff came to know and love the people of Urraco. During his many trips up to Urraco, Jeff noticed that the climate, and fertile soil in Urraco are perfect growing conditions for coffee - and that coffee was actually already growing naturally in the shade of plantain trees. The people of Urraco have a passion for coffee, but lacked the resources to properly harvest and process the crop. Jeff began investing in the farm and community to try and establish a sustainable coffee farm.

Title

While Jeff was working away in Honduras, our other founding member, Matt Dorcy, was working for Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, WA. Matt worked in the Store Development department at Starbucks’ Corporate Headquarters designing Starbucks coffee shop locations all over the world. During Matt’s tenure with Starbucks, he took the opportunity to attend many workshops to learn all about coffee. The origins, growing regions, characteristics, flavor profiles, and roasting methods fascinated him. Matt made friends from other departments within Starbucks, one such friend, Eric Cousins, started his career with Starbucks in the roasting plant. Matt started meeting with Eric weekly to learn how to become a master roaster.

In the summer of 2003, Matt made a trip to Honduras to help Jeff with a construction project. During this trip, Jeff took Matt up to Urraco to show him the farm. They spent the night in a mud hut that Jeff had built on the farm, and the next morning they enjoyed coffee that had been grown in Urraco, that was roasted over an open flame on a large pan. It was over that cup of coffee that the inspiration to start their own coffee company took root. Matt left his clothes in Honduras, and filled his suitcase with coffee beans to bring back home. The next time Matt and Eric got together, they roasted beans from Urraco so Matt and Jeff could give them away to friends and family.

Feature 3

Shortly after that trip, Matt resigned from Starbucks and started putting his experience and knowledge of coffee shop design and coffee roasting into the development of Urraco Coffee Company. Matt and Jeff leased a small space on the corner of 7th & Cota in the heart of downtown Shelton, Washington in January of 2003. They purchases a Diedrich IR-12 coffee roaster in Sand Point, Idaho and set up shop. Matt’s friend Eric continued to meet with Matt and Jeff at their new roastery in Shelton, WA over the next year training them in the art and science of coffee roasting. Matt and Jeff built out a full coffee bar inside the space while they continued to master their craft. In March of 2003, they opened Urraco Coffee Company to the public, serving fresh roasted coffee and specialty espresso beverages while roasting coffee in full view of their customers.

About three years into the business, Jeff received some scary news, he was going to have to battle a very serious illness and he wasn’t able to keep the business going. Determined to keep the business in the family, Matt’s parents, Kevin and Kathy Dorcy, purchased the business from Jeff and Matt in 2006. Over the last thirteen years Kevin and Kathy have owned and operated Urraco Coffee Company. During this time they have expanded the business to two locations, developed key business to business relationships with local resorts and restaurants, and have created a staple establishment in the Shelton community.

EDIT AND CREATE A BETTER ENDING - TALK ABOUT JEFF’s PASSING…Matt and his wife Lisa continue to support the business, and Jeff is doing well and is one of Urraco’s best customers!

Feature 1

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae. Aliquam bibendum, turpis eu mattis iaculis, ex lorem mollis sem, ut sollicitudin risus orci quis tellus.

Feature 2

Suspendisse nec congue purus. Sed a ligula quis sapien lacinia egestas.

Feature 3

Quisque congue porttitor ullamcorper. Mauris egestas at nibh nec finibus.