In 2002 we launched The Black Drop Coffeehouse in downtown Bellingham with little more than a few nickels rubbed together and a whole lot of elbow grease. Over the years, we've learned how much we didn’t know – we became obsessed with community, relationships, coffee, quality, and freshness. We learned how to develop a café culture, hiring staff that we treated like family, and explored the most exacting standards of drink preparation – those embraced by the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the United States Barista Championship. We imbued our staff with these standards and focused on drink-making quality. Soon thereafter it became clear that the ultimate way to control coffee quality and freshness was to purchase and roast all our own beans. In 2006, we launched Maniac Roasting as way to complement the Black Drop’s vision and enhance our commitment to quality. The Black Drop Coffeehouse has since been passed on to the capable hands of a long-time employee, but the importance of relationships continues to influence the vision of Maniac Roasting, which remains with the original ownership. We prefer to grow relationships organically – we don't just wholesale our coffees, we can also provide the same exact training as we held ourselves to while operating The Black Drop.
