Mike Kapos - Founder 1953
Excellent Coffee History
Remember the 1950s? Back then, quality and integrity were the backbones of American society. That’s when Excellent Coffee Company was founded – when quality was the coffee industry’s main export.
The firm was founded on the premise that only the world’s absolute best coffee would do – and nothing less.
Company founder Mike Kapos started out small – roasting hand batches of the world’s finest beans and selling them out of his station wagon. He would often be found meticulously picking stray beans out of the bushels that didn’t pass muster – it was an absolute and uncompromising pursuit for the finest coffee he could offer.
As with many small Rhode Island-based businesses, once the word got out, it was hard to keep Excellent Coffee a secret. As orders increased, so did the workload, but Mike refused to let his business grow any bigger without ensuring that he could deliver the world’s best coffee to all of his clients.
As the 1950s became the 1960s, automation in the blending and packaging process enabled Mike to devote more of his time to seeking out the world’s best coffee, searching world-wide for new plantations and farms - personally tasting new beans and blends, taking the time to meet the farmers, and vetting every single product that would carry his company’s name.
In the 1970s, Mike’s son Bill took the company reigns. As Bill pushed for more automation and technological innovation, his father Mike was there to taste each cup and make sure that as the company moved forward, nothing would sacrifice the quality of the coffee.
Excellent Coffee sells coffee under two major brands, Downeast Coffee and Ocean Coffee Roasters. Downeast Coffee exemplifies the Excellent Coffee tradition of impeccable quality – Every Cup, Every Time. Ocean Coffee Roasters is our boutique brand; we roast only small-batch, hand-crafted coffees for the most discerning connoisseurs.
Today, we continue to innovate with the newest technology, and invest in quality and production. While we have grown into one of America’s most celebrated independent coffee companies, we are never distracted from our goal – giving our consumers the simple joy of the perfect cup of coffee.
