Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2025 Sprudge Twenty honorees, please visit sprudge.com/twenty.
Reyna is the Director of Training and Innovation at Olympia Coffee, where she not only teaches and mentors the next generation of baristas but also inspires through her own career as a fierce competitor. She has consistently reached the semifinals of the U.S. Barista Championship (USBC), and in 2024, she not only made it to the USBC semifinals but also won the U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.
Yet what makes Reyna truly remarkable isn’t just what she achieves personally—it’s how she shows up for others. Before claiming her own CIGS title, she coached the 2023 champion. After her win, she coached the 2025 runner-up, and in the same year, coached a first-time Barista competitor into the USBC semifinals.
Her expertise is widely recognized—she’s been quoted multiple times in WIRED magazine equipment reviews as a trusted authority helping home brewers find the best gear. She also organizes an annual throwdown for the Seattle coffee community, which has raised thousands of dollars for local nonprofits. And through all of this, she still finds time to work regular bar shifts every week.
Reyna is tireless in her efforts to move the coffee industry forward—one signature drink, one training session, and one inspiring lecture at a time. I’m proud to call her a co-worker and even prouder to witness the difference she makes in our community.
Nominated by Sam Schroeder.
How many years total have you worked in the coffee industry?
I’m coming up on 11 years this November!
What was your first coffee job?
I’m really thankful that my first coffee job was at a specialty coffee shop called The Curb (still there, now called The Curb Kaimuki, under new ownership) on O`ahu, operating at the University of Hawai`i and in the Kaimuki neighborhood.
The locations I worked at were wildly different: at the university, there were sandwiches, blenders, and “bagel corner,” where you would earn your rights to be on bar, and it was very fast-paced, with a lot of different pre-made syrups that could suit the college coffee drinker’s palate. At Kaimuki 1.0 (the original space, not where they are currently), the pace was slow, intentionally so, with a focus on interaction and for-here service. No batch brew, no food, just coffee and conversation. We didn’t have wifi, and up-charged for to-go cups, and kept tabs on all of our guests orders without writing them down, so we could provide more of a cocktail bar experience. We had a selection of open bags of coffee from different roasters around the country and would dial in every coffee, every day. It was an incredible feat of balancing quality beverages and quality hospitality, because you worked by yourself basically all of the time.
Did you experience a life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career?
Yes! I actually remember my first ever shot of espresso, from my good friend Bryan (shout out Tono Coffee Project) who worked for The Curb at the time. It was on 10/13/2014, Big Truck Blend espresso, served at the little Sinclair library kiosk The Curb location (you had to drive a golf cart with a bunch of stuff and a cooler to open it every day), and I remember thinking, “oh actually, this is way more delicious than I thought it would be!” I had spent the last year working my way down from an 8oz mocha to a cortado or macchiato, and Bryan was like, “Do you just wanna try a shot of espresso, no pressure?” It was creamy, chocolatey, with just a hint of fruit, and way sweeter than I thought it was going to be, considering it was just coffee. I think about that shot all of the time, and I actually have the empty bag with the old-school Olympia Coffee label on it, because Bryan drew a funny cat face on it.
Is there a person or persons who served as your mentor early in your coffee career? How did they impact you?
I’ve got a handful of individuals I think of as my “coffee mentors.” At the beginning of my career: Juli Burden, Justin Schiada, and Patrick Oiye. Before I worked alongside them, I spent a long time ordering coffee from them, so when I started working with them, they pushed me into the deep-end. All of them had come from diverse, incredible coffee backgrounds and fed my thirst for knowledge. These people showed me what a long-term career in coffee looked like before I even knew that I wanted to work in coffee. About three years in, I met Sam Schroeder for the first time, and I would credit him with almost all of my professional development. I don’t think I understood the phrase “Coffee Professional” until I started working with him. Sam really expanded my horizons, and raised the expectations I held of myself: in my first year of competition, I remember receiving critical feedback about my sig drink, and him saying, “I know you’re more creative than this.” He was right, actually. His ability to find something to get excited about and get other people excited with him is something that I hope to someday emulate.
What is your current role in coffee?
I’m the Director of Training and Innovation at Olympia Coffee, which means that I’m responsible for all of the education that happens for our retail cafes, quality assessment at the seven cafes + bakery, beverage standardization, menu creation, event planning, and innovating creative new problems for my team to work out with me.
What facet of the coffee industry has changed the most during your career?
I think there’s two things: 1.) the general uptick of quality coffee that is available everywhere and 2.) available knowledge. When I first got into coffee, I found it particularly hard to find good quality coffee when I traveled, but these days, I can count on there being at least something delicious wherever I am, even if it’s a little out of the way. I’m a little more on-the-fence about available knowledge, not because I want people to have to work harder for information, but because I think, on the consumer side, it’s really difficult to sort through all of the information available to find what is actually valuable and useful.
What still surprises you today about coffee, or gives you joy?
These days, I think coffee serves more as a conduit for relationship building. There’s always more to explore and always something new to learn, but what actively brings me joy when I’m serving coffee is the people I get to work with and the people I get to serve coffee to. I know it feels really cliche to say something like that, but it’s true: I value the people I meet through coffee more than the coffee we’re drinking together. Everyone that I love has come to me through coffee.
What’s something about the coffee industry you’d most like to see change?
Oh man, this is a hard one because every opinion I have about coffee is a hill I would die on.
I would love for everyone to drink less coffee, but pay more money for it, and for that money to be more clearly and transparently traced, ideally all the way through the business and back to origin. You don’t need a 16oz pour-over, but if you paid the same price for a 10oz or an 8oz, producers could afford to have running water in their houses. I think we need to reframe specialty coffee as a luxury product, because yes, you should be considering the impact of a cup of coffee on your wallet. Cheap coffee cheapens our industry, and it makes life hard not just for our producers, but also for people who are trying to make a living in the industry, all parts of it.
What is your most cherished coffee memory?
There are so many good ones, but I think I’m gonna have to go with serving my World Coffee in Good Spirits 2024 cocktails to Juli, who produced my coffee, and all of my friends back home at The Curb Kaimuki last October. It’s one thing to present to your peers and friends, but it’s another entirely to serve it to the person who is responsible for making your coffee. Juli actually got to come and taste while I was preparing, before I went to worlds, but it feels more special when you’re just a 30 minute drive away from where the coffee grows. And, it felt very full-circle to be able to serve some of my old regulars and coworkers, who came out just to spend time with me. I haven’t seen some of these people since I moved away to Washington, so it felt like coming home and celebrating with the people who got me started doing all this to begin with.
Do you make coffee at home? If so, tell us how you brew!
So, when I actually “brew” coffee at home, I’m out here hand-brewing with my Origami M with a Sibarist fast cone-shaped filter, no-prewet, 1:17 ratio, barely dialed in. But, in truth, most days, I’m drinking filter brewed on my Breville Precision Brewer that I programed seven years ago and haven’t updated the recipe settings since. Most days, I’m not even the one making the coffee–Alan, my husband, just asks me if I’m having coffee at home today. I only hand-brew if I’m making a coffee in the afternoon, or making coffee “concentrate” for a coffee cocktail.
What is your favorite song/music to brew coffee to?
Genre? Hip Hop, Rap, or RnB depending on the day and flow. Artist? Drake. I couldn’t pick a favorite song, but my favorite album to brew coffee to is, hands down, Views. I could never make bad coffee if all I listened to was Drake. But, catch me on a Sunday morning at our Columbia City cafe, and you’ll probably hear either Pop Punk from the 2010s, or Usher Radio.
What is your idea of coffee happiness?
The rare occasion I get to have coffee with all of my friends. Most of us work different schedules, and I don’t take weekends off, so the most special coffees are the ones that I get to enjoy with them. All of us work for Olympia Coffee, so an outing where all of us are off, able to have coffee together, is almost impossible to coordinate, but that means when it happens, we’re all having an incredible time.
If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?
It’s Drake, it’s always gonna be Drake, until it actually happens and then I’m gonna have to come up with another answer. One, he just seems like a fun guy, and two, people with ambition really inspire me. Personally, I would love to make him a fruity lil coffee cocktail, probably tequila-based, and then I would love to discuss creative process. Like, are you just out here with the guys, saying anything, and you stumble on a bar and that’s it? That goes in the song? Individuals’ creative processes are fascinating to me!
What’s one piece of advice you would give someone getting their start in the coffee industry today?
Everyone else is giving great advice, but I’ve got some practical advice. Find a good hand lotion, because it’s a lot of not-very-glamourous dish washing. Like, seriously, the amount of dishes is insane. I think I spend easily eight hours of my week washing dishes, probably more.
The Sprudge Twenty feature series is proudly presented by Pacific Barista Series.
