COSMONAUT COFFEE

In the early 2000’s something started happening down here in Tacoma. A small group of us up in Seattle took notice, and three of us—all touring musicians—Ron Heathman, Donny Hales and myself, Pat Brown, decided to move to Tacoma with our families. With a new home base, we opened a rock-n-roll hair salon and tattoo shop called Supernova. The original plan was for, Donnny’s wife, Jana, to run the shop while Donny and I were out on the road playing in our respective bands.

We acquired 817 Division Ave, in Tacoma’s Stadium District. The building itself once was home to legendary Tacoma businesses, Mother Records and Temple Of The Bean Coffee (circa 1980s and 90s). We knew that our new space would also be a perfect location for our friend Ron Heathman to open his coffee shop.

Ron, legendary guitarist from The Supersuckers always dreamed of operating his own coffee shop so when he retired from the band, he’d have something to put his heart into. Ron had already acquired a used LaMarzocco Linea espresso machine and two grinders from his friend Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden. It was a no-brainer for him to join up with Donny and myself, so Ron agreed. At a certain point, as he was always on the road, the project became bigger than Ron originally anticipated and he needed some help from his friends. At first, Ron talked about
pulling the plug. Donny and I cringed because we had our hearts set on having an amazing coffee shop in our building, so we offered to come in as partners.

With Donny and Jana’s blessing, I went to work. I had my eyes on the prize, but we got stretched thin, our credit cards were maxed and I even emptied Supernova’s meager bank account. Now, broke, I needed help finishing the project, so I called in favors from friends far and wide to help finish the build-out. Labor and trade skills were exchanged for tattoos from Supernova, lifetimes in free coffee credit and promissory notes. It was fun pulling all-nighters, designing and building the DIY punk-rock, mid-century modern, unfinished-industrial 1960s “space” themed interior. Everything in the shop was custom built by either myself or any number of my skilled friends, without whose help we would’ve never completed the project.

It was important to both Ron and myself to have a cool atmosphere but more importantly to find the best coffee roaster to partner up with, so we traveled up and down the west coast trying and sampling coffees from various roasters. Now, I’m not going to lie, in the beginning, Ron’s rockstar status was very helpful and opened a lot of doors to us. One of those doors was Stumptown Coffee. We immediately hit it off with the owner, originally a local from Puyallup, Duane Sorenson, who happened to be a huge fan of The Supersuckers. After the conversation started, Duane came to understand that we both had a passion for great coffee and wanted to share the best espressos with our new hometown, Tacoma. In addition to having the best product, we wanted to work with Stumptown because of their Direct Trade business model. We were willing to pay a little more for their product because their producers and those labor forces doing the work were making a living wage from the additional money Stumptown paid their partners.
We were very excited when Stumptown officially picked us to represent them. To represent Stumptown, you had to have the right skills, equipment and commitment to excellence. Ron and I were trained and re-trained at Stumptown’s new training facility in Seattle, and after numerous sessions we both became proficient in preparing top-shelf espresso drinks the way Stumptown did.

Cosmonaut Coffee was born under the moniker Satellite Coffee in 2007. The shop was an overnight success. Word spread quickly, and with it a sustainable business grew. We applied the same philosophy that helped us find a roaster and other suppliers that matched the quality and ethos of our vision. One of the partners we found was Bapi Champati at MyChai who makes the best chai and craft batch syrups we’d ever tried, so between great beans, great syrups and determination to bring Tacoma the best of the best through dedication and meticulous preparation, the foundation was laid.

Over the next few years I continued to be just as passionate about being here, serving Tacoma, as I was in the beginning, so I became Cosmonaut’s sole proprietor. I am so grateful for all the help, support and camaraderie of my former partners, without their inspirations, help and
partnership, this shop wouldn’t even be here.

Although there have been a few changes over the years, like our name, and no, I’m not a communist or Russian. As a kid I was fascinated with the former USSR the same way I was fascinated with Darth Vader, so although we have some Soviet art and artifacts in the shop, it’s just window dressing. When we needed a legal name change and Cosmonaut was available I snapped it up; we already had all kinds of space memorabilia.

Even without our original name we still practice the original philosophy that put us on the map. It hasn’t changed since we opened in 2007. We continually seek and procure the best tasting, highest quality, healthiest products we can find from other small, like-minded businesses, keeping the money in the neighborhood whenever possible.

After Stumptown changed ownership we found that our philosophies no longer matched and I made an exhaustive search for a new roaster and ended up with Cat and Cloud Coffee.

They are wonderful folks with the right partnership mentality, the type of credo that we look for in a supplier. Also we believe their product is superior to all others. Our other partners include local and regional businesses Spilled Butter Desserts, Dude’s Donuts, Umchu Bars, Kuan Yin Teas and Ellivated Goods. We are also an ocean friendly restaurant and a proud member of The Surfrider Foundation and use sustainable and green business practices.

So whether you are a connoisseur of straight espresso and pour-over coffee, or you like sweet & cold or just regular joe, come on in and let me or one of my highly trained baristas hook you up with an old favorite or try something new, but get here early as we close at 2pm. If you guys want me around for another decade or two, I gotta get off at 2…