Compass Coffee is an American coffee roaster and retailer based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 2014 by Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez, both Marines, and currently has twelve existing locations in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, including one active roasting facility. The company serves hot and cold drinks, whole bean and ground coffee, espresso, latte, bagged and loose-leaf teas. Compass is also currently building a roasting facility in the Ivy City neighborhood of DC to support its East Coast Operations neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
History
Haft and Suarez, both native Washingtonians, decided to start a company together following their return to the city after leaving active duty in the Marine Corps. After writing a bestselling book, Perfect Coffee at Home, they settled on starting a coffee roasting company. They both drank terrible coffee in the Marines therefore they wanted to experiment something different and it took place in Haft’s basement, which they outfitted with a roaster and every other type of coffee apparatus imaginable. The flagship cafe opened in July 2014 in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington. This location also houses the company’s main roaster and production center as well as offices. Following the first location, Compass built another cafe in the same neighborhood, opening in September, 2015. Compass opened three more shops in DC. Compass supports local DC-based businesses and works closely with Union Kitchen, a food accelerator in DC, to source DC-made food items for its cafés. In 2015, Compass was praised by President Barack Obama as the coffee voted to be served in the White House during his Veterans Day Commemoration Speech On March 31, 2017, Compass Coffee was featured in DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's State of the District Address for jumpstarting the Made in DC movement a non-profit dedicated to building a stronger DC food ecosystem and creating jobs in DC. Made in DC initiative was founded together with the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development to promote and support District-made products and businesses. Made in DC is also part of the Compass Coffee / Union Kitchen alliance. On October 20 2017, Compass Coffee founders Haft and Suarez received the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Community Impact Award at the 2017 Chamber’s Choice Gala. On March 23, 2020, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned Compass Coffee to aid in producing 2,000 gallons of hand sanitizer for DC government workers and emergency / first-aid responders in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Washington, D.C.
Roasting Process
The Compass roasting process is the first to use NASA technology for consistent brewing. It involves a Proportional Integral Derivative controller, which was developed by NASA to automate manual tasks and standardize operating procedures.
Cafés
As of February 2020, Compass had 12 locations in DC and Virginia, with plans to open another in the Ivy City part of DC as part of their new roasting facility and headquarters. Compass Cafés are designed in-house to serve the neighborhoods they are in. Most notably, Compass renovated the defunct but historically located Georgetown Theater, which features a famous neon sign, and was previously unused.
