High octane mission: Spokane native offers healthier cold brew options

Make no beans about it, Evan Oeflein is on an energetic crusade. The owner of Seattle Strong Coffee has carved a healthy niche in the cold brew market with his ready-to-drink craft beverages which deliver a hefty caffeinated punch along with great flavor without artificial additives or extra calories.

“We just want to show what cold coffee can and should be. When you look at our ingredients, it’s literally just coffee and water,” he said.

Oeflein now lives in Seattle, but his cold brew journey began right here in Spokane. An innovative self-starter, he attended University High School and participated in the Running Start program at Eastern Washington University.

“I used to make pens … pizza cutters, bottle openers and that sort of thing,” said Oeflein, who once peddled those handcrafted goods at local craft and trade shows with dreams of running his own business.

A visit to the University of Washington campus opened that door for him.

“I wanted to fly the coop a little bit and go somewhere new,” Oeflein said.

He later enrolled in the UW Entrepreneurship Program. The blueprint for Seattle Strong Coffee brewed in 2017 as part of a group project.

“It’s a two-quarter class called Create a Company,” he said. “The first quarter you find a team, come up with an idea, write a business plan and prepare. They have a nonprofit fund set up for the class. You pitch for it and they provide funding for you to run the company during the second quarter.”

Oeflein’s team jumped on a growing market.

“It was right when cold brew coffee was starting to hit trend,” Oeflein said. “A lot of the cold brew that was out there was really intense or bitter or thick or it was a ton of cream and sugar.”

The alliterative product name they chose was a nod to an enduring Seattle coffee culture. Their Space Needle-inspired logo originated from a collaboration of classroom doodles.

“There wasn’t just a clean, smooth coffee fulfilling that cold brew process,” he said. “It was really only intended to be for the class.”

It became much more.

“We found that other people liked it as well. During that class, we actually ended up getting some orders from local tech offices in Seattle. They brought us in as beverage of the month and then they just kept ordering,” said Oeflein, who later bought the startup company back from the University of Washington with a few of his original team members. “After the class, we created the actual, legal entity. We ran it on the side during our final (college) years. We were literally skipping classes to go to sales meetings and go walk into offices and try to sell cold brew,” said Oeflein, who still managed to add a Bachelor of Arts in business administration with a focus in finance, entrepreneurship and information systems to his growing résumé despite that busy schedule.

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a harsh wake -up call.

“I essentially took it (the company) over. At that point … literally, like 95% of our revenue disappeared overnight,” Oeflein said.

In his early 20s at the time, he remained Seattle Strong throughout the ensuing storm by pivoting into retail sales. His company now offers three distinct ready-to-drink blends which attain their robust flavors from premium beans with notes of almond, chocolate, toffee, lemon, berry and coconut. A nitrogen infusion process during canning locks in those tastes while also creating a creamy carbonation. The cold coffees are especially popular with Gen Z and millennial crowds.

“Our bold, classic and bright are essentially like a dark roast, medium roast and light roast coffee,” he said.

In the Spokane area, Seattle Strong Coffee can be purchased at My Fresh Basket and Safeway stores.

Born and raised in Seattle, I was excited to sample Oeflein’s cold brew, but prefer my coffee hot and asked if his products could be warmed up.

“Absolutely. It actually tastes wonderful microwaved,” he said.

After picking up a can of Bold Nitro Cold Brew at a South Hill Safeway store, the creamy coffee frothed like a latte after heated and indeed tasted naturally flavorful, but even better with a pinch of added sugar.

“We want it to be super smooth and easy to drink and still have flavor. You either don’t need cream and sugar at all or a little bit goes a lot further,” said Oeflein, who feels a special satisfaction when he returns to visit family and friends here in Spokane.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “When it really hit me was when I went to the Safeway near my childhood home and could see my products.”