Did you know that the “Master Roaster” at The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie has been roasting beans on Vashon for over 30 years? Over 30 years ago, Master Roaster, Peter Larsen arrived from Germany with the hopes of putting his extensive knowledge of coffee roasting to good use. A fourth generation roaster who grew up around and apprenticed within the exacting German coffee industry, Peter was quickly discovered by Jim Stewart, founder of Seattle’s Best Coffee, joining him on Vashon at what is now The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie.

Peter’s experience was the perfect accompaniment to Jim’s desire to introduce Northern European style coffee roasting to the United States and improve the quality of coffee available in this country.  Little did Peter know he would become a key part of a significant era of coffee history: helping to create the specialty coffee industry, establishing Seattle as the capital of today’s worldwide coffee phenomenon and putting our little Vashon on the coffee map in a big way.

It’s with us all the time, yet we’re rarely conscious of its presence. It ratchets up our tension and anxiety without our even knowing it. Stealthy but lethal, the fact is that constant and unyielding ambient NOISE messes with our nervous systems in ways that just aren’t easily detectable on the surface.

When my wife and I first moved to the Northwest fourteen years ago, we lived on top of Queen Anne Hill. We loved every minute of our time there, but after a few years, we noticed that the “din” of the city which permeates every inch of Queen Anne seemed to be getting louder. In reality, it was probably about the same as it had always been, but we seemed to be more aware of it than ever before.