Dutch Bros. Coffee
This privately held drive-through coffee chain is headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon.
At last count a total of 233 company-owned and franchise stores are located in seven states in the western USA.
The Walla Walla store has been open for over four years.
Dutch Bros. was founded on February 3, 1992 by brothers Dane and Travis Boersma, third-generation dairy farmers in Grants Pass.
They bought an espresso machine and experimented with a hundred pounds of coffee in their empty milk house.
After a month of handing out free samples to friends and family, the brothers began serving up mochas and lattes
from a pushcart set up in downtown Grants Pass. They named their company
Dutch Brothers Coffee Company, or Dutch Bros.
Over the next few years, permanent kiosks opened in other parts of Grants Pass,
including a coffeehouse a few blocks from the original stand.
Dutch Bros. roasts all their own coffee, a three-bean blend sourced from
direct relationships with plantations in El Salvador, Brazil and Colombia.
Flavored coffee drinks are made from ingredients such as Torani syrups,
a blend of Dutch chocolate milk, Oregon Chai, Pacific soy milk, and Harney & Sons teas.
In October 2009, co-founder Dane Boersma died of Lou Gehrig's disease.
In his honor, all locations annually donate one designated day's proceeds
to the Muscular Distrophy Association.
