commonly coffee

If you were to throw a dart at a map of Southern California, you’d be guaranteed to hit somewhere close to a specialty coffee roaster or cafe! This region is just teeming with so many amazing people, cafes, and roasters. If you’re fortunate enough to call this area home, I am so jealous of you.

And I am jealous if you happen to call (what is arguably the coolest named city on the planet) RANCHO CUCAMONGA home. Because it is here that Klatch Coffee has set up shop, left its mark, and continues to thrive as a family-owned business.

It is for these reasons, and SO MANY MORE, that I reached out to get to know their story and to now have the chance to share it with you as our COFFEE ROASTER OF THE MONTH for February 2026! So give it up for Klatch Coffee!

To know more about Klatch Coffee is to get to know the Perry family. Help our audience get to know you a bit better… How did you get started in coffee? What keeps you going?

I’m Heather, the older daughter from the Perry Family. I’m the current CEO of Klatch Coffee, and I’m also the former President of the Specialty Coffee Association and a two-time U.S. Barista Champion. In 1993, my mom, Cindy, and my dad, Mike, founded the company—known at the time as Coffee Klatch—as they wanted to create a “third space” for people to enjoy great coffee and find community the way they did during their coffee shop dates. Mike graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in Chemical Engineering three years later, and we began to roast our own coffee. Now, we’ve expanded into a 6,000 sq ft roastery with three roasters—a Diedrich IR-24, a CR-25, and a CR-70—and we have seven standalone stores and nine within Sprouts Farmers Markets groceries, with 16 more coming in 2026! My younger sister Holly also works within the company, using her BA in Hotel and Restaurant Management as the Director of Retail. Mike still works within the company as well, taking on the role of Green Coffee Sourcer, traveling to visit our producer partners around the world annually, and Roastmaster. And my mom, Cindy? She’s the backbone of what we do, taking on the role of full-time grandmother.

I never actually decided to work in coffee, but looking back, nothing else would have made sense. I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in International Business and Marketing, and today, I’m proud to be the CEO of our family-founded, woman-owned company. What started as my parents’ “temporary” cafe in Rancho Cucamonga is now an internationally recognized coffee brand, and as someone who’s been around the coffee bar since childhood, it’s been amazing to help grow this company from the ground up alongside my family! I was the first woman to win the U.S. Barista Championship, and the first person to win the title twice.

That experience taught me the discipline of perfecting every detail of the coffee experience, and really gave me deep insight into what customers really value. I’ve also competed on the world stage, bringing our WBC coffee to earn the “Best Espresso” title at the World Barista Championship in Tokyo in 2007. Our goal and motivation is actually quite simple: to meet everyone wherever they are in their coffee journey! We source our beans from long-standing farm partners that produce Cup of Excellence quality coffee and above, often 90 points or more, and we operate with a Direct Trade model that is designed to meet the needs of their families in today’s market. We buy straight from the growers so we can ensure our partners are being paid well above Fair Trade minimums, and that we’re helping them create meaningful careers and communities. From sourcing with long-standing farm partners to roasting with our signature peak of flavor method, to offering classes and consulting through our Training Lab, we always want to make sure we do coffee right.

Before we go much further, share with our readers what you’re drinking/enjoying these days when it comes to coffee!

My favorite blend to enjoy has always been our Lion’s Pride! It’s a blend of Ethiopian and Kenyan coffee beans, and really highlights the bright fruitiness that African coffees carry. I drink it every morning, and even have a “by-usage” subscription for it for home so that I never run out. I store the coffee on a smart scale connected to WiFi, and the next bag is sent automatically to arrive right when I need it!

I am always fascinated in the origin story of how a roaster/cafe selects their name, so help our readers to get to know the story behind why you chose Klatch Coffee Roasters? Is there a significance or symbolism about the name?

Yes! My mom’s family is Dutch, and the word “klatch” actually comes from the German word “kaffeeklatsch,” or “coffee klatch.” It means “coffee and conversation,” or refers to an informal social gathering to talk and share in each other’s company over a cup of coffee!

Klatch has been a family-owned & operated since 1993! I know that some of our readers weren’t even born back then. So, what would you say have been your keys to success to not only survive but thrive in the specialty coffee space?   

I don’t think anyone can truly say they’ve had a perfectly smooth road, but that’s just part of the journey. Like any business, we’ve faced our share of challenges. In recent years, two of the biggest hurdles have been the volatility of the C-market, and increases in tariffs on imported green coffee. (The “C-market” is the index that tracks trade prices for coffee around the world – prices reached a new record high earlier this year.) Both of these directly impact our cost of goods, and can be incredibly difficult to plan for, especially when you’re committed to maintaining both quality and sustainability.

On top of that, scaling a family business while preserving its soul isn’t easy. Growing from a single cafe to a multi-location brand with wholesale, e-commerce, and a training lab takes constant adjustment, from systems and staffing, to operations and culture. We’ve had to learn how to grow smart, not just fast, and that’s a lesson we’re still learning. But, through it all, I do think we’ve managed to stay true to our values in putting quality, transparency, and people first. Building that sense of community and leading with intention, care, and a drive for excellence are really what I think keeps us going and succeeding. That, and our genuine love and passion for sharing great coffee! We don’t gate keep our knowledge, and we love seeing our wholesale partners, neighboring cafes, and even competing roasters succeed.

We’re all here to spread love and build up respect for the specialty coffee industry, and we always want to make sure we do so ethically and by supporting those who support us. From building clinics and schools with our producer partners to creating an extensive training program for our cafe baristas and leads, we always want to do what we can to emphasize the importance of community. I think keeping that in mind has been integral to our journey and our success.

Speaking of success. Klatch Coffee is not in short supply of awards & accolades. Roast Magazine’s 2019 Micro Roaster of the Year, Golden Bean Overall Champion from 2015-2018, USBC Championships, Good Foods Awards Winner and much more. What has fuelled all of this success? How has participating in the competition scene helped to grow Klatch as a company and its team members?

Honestly, it just comes from a love of sharing great coffee! We enter these competitions to spread joy with each cup. It reassures us that we’re doing something right, and someone who may not have known about us previously can find us through them. We’re also incredibly open to our own team members competing, and we love supporting them through their competition journeys. Our San Dimas cafe manager Yalittza is incredibly talented, and we’ve loved watching her compete in various Latte Art Competitions. Similarly, our former Redondo Beach cafe manager Daniel even won third place at the US Brewers Cup Championship with our Colombia Chiroso coffee in 2023. Competitions are another opportunity for us to bring our best to the table and share it with the world.

After 30+ years in the Southern California area, what do you love about the SOCAL specialty coffee community? In what ways does this region continue to move the needle for this industry? 

Just for the simple fact that Southern California is such a dense market for specialty coffee, I think it’s the perfect place for us to be! There are countless roasters in the LA area especially, so we’ve all grown with a friendly rivalry that keeps all of us motivated to continue growing and improving. Plus, there’s such a sense of community because there are so many people who love specialty coffee here! Expos, Coffee Fest, Latte Art Throwdowns, and more happen frequently, allowing us to meet new people, reconnect with old friends, and more. Southern California really fosters community and growth within the industry.

Your partnership with Sprouts Farmers Markets caught my attention (as it did as well for Sprudge). I sense that the specialty coffee community always desires to see greater accessibility when it comes to more people choosing to make specialty coffee more a part of their daily lives. Was this a part of this decision? What else led you to pursue this partnership?

Making specialty coffee more accessible was definitely a big part of the pursuit of this partnership! In reality, Sprouts Farmers Market first reached out to us as they felt our company values were well-aligned, and we agreed wholeheartedly. Both Klatch Coffee and Sprouts Farmers Market put heavy focus on quality and sustainability. We offer a lot of Fair Trade and Organic coffees as well, which also caught their eye. We found this partnership to be a wonderful way to spread the joy of specialty coffee, while really emphasizing the value we put in choosing quality and sustainability over convenience and lower costs.

As we look ahead at 2026, what are your hopes and dreams for the specialty coffee community? What would you like to see change? What is going well? And how is Klatch Coffee helping to lead the way in some of these areas?

More than anything, we just hope to see it continue to grow and flourish! I know 2025 has been a bit of a tough year for specialty coffee with the uncertainty that tariffs brought, and with the rising C-Market prices, but I hope for people to see value in specialty coffee the way we do with wine and similar products. There’s a lot that goes into a cup of coffee, and we love educating people on the whole process, from farm to cup. We love being able to highlight our producer partners and their communities, and share their story along with each of our coffees. We hope to continue doing so, and to build even more meaningful relationships with producers, cafe owners, fellow roasters, consumers, and more! At the end of the day, we just hope that coffee can continue to spread a bit of cheer to everyone’s day, one cup at a time.

Thanks so much Klatch for sharing your story! What’s next for you? Anything exciting on the horizon you care to share with our readers?  

As you mentioned, we have an amazing partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market! We opened five cafes within their markets in 2024, and 2025 brought four more. We’re so excited that 2026 will bring SIXTEEN more locations within Sprouts Farmers Markets, bringing us to 25 joint store locations total! We’ll also be taking these new locations to regions we’ve never been before—like our first locations in San Diego County coming later this year—but we’re so happy to continue this amazing partnership. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to share great coffee with new audiences this year, and we can’t wait to get started.

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Contact Info:

web: www.klatchcoffee.com
instagram: @klatchcoffee
email:  info@klatchcoffee.com

Find their beans: If you’re looking to get your hands on some beans then definitely check out their web-store for what they’re currently roasting.  

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I just wanted to say a huge thanks again to the entire Perry Family at Klatch Coffee for being a huge contributor to the specialty coffee community in Southern California and far far beyond!

-Tyler