In 2017, as newcomers to Whidbey Island, Tessa and Richard Karno weren’t looking to start another coffee company. Newly retired, they enjoyed the fine coffees offered by the island’s numerous coffee roasters, while discovering the many outside activities Whidbey offers. They also experienced a few of the power outages Whidbey is infamous for.
Sitting in the dark one night while waiting for power to be restored, Richard sensed an opportunity to follow up on an idea he had nurtured for years: a coffee concentrate that wouldn’t require a brewer or grinder to make, yet yielded a cup of coffee as good or better than those made using traditional methods. Thus Unplugged Coffee Company was born.
For many years Richard had worked on a process that would produce a pure coffee concentrate many times stronger than traditionally brewed coffee using only fresh roasted and ground organic coffee and purified water. The user would only need to add hot or cold water for a fast, delicious cup of organic coffee.
Richard went to work again on his process and after several months of trial and error and hundreds of tastings by Tessa, who Richard admits has the far better palette, the couple arrived at their finished product. Tessa best describes it as “a quick, easy way to make a cup of excellent coffee, no grinding, or brewing and you don’t have to deal with filters or spent coffee grounds.”
Their new company’s name, “Unplugged Coffee,” highlights the machine-less nature of their product. Unplugged Coffee concentrate is sold in 100% recyclable glass bottles. The company focuses on sustainable practices including distribution of its spent organic coffee grounds to local gardeners, and a bottle buy-back program where returned bottles are sterilized for reuse and customers receive a $1 credit per bottle on the next coffee purchase.
For Richard and Tessa, the road to Whidbey was winding. In 1990 Richard founded The Novel Cafe, Abbots Habit, in Los Angeles and ultimately Groundwork Coffee Company, which became the largest organic coffee roaster in Southern California. Both he and Tessa are native Angelenos and met in Southern California more than 10 years ago. By then they both wanted to leave the big city and live in a more rural area. Tessa’s son had moved to Seattle, and Richard had been a frequent visitor to the PNW for over 30 years. After discovering Whidbey Island one day on a visit to see Tessa's son, they decided they wanted to make Whidbey their home.
They were both inspired by the many sustainable practices living on an island requires. Unplugged Coffee uses only 100% certified organic coffee beans sourced from distinct coffee growing regions to create a signature blend. The beans are roasted and processed locally on Whidbey Island. Unplugged Coffee company operates as a quintessential “mom and pop” with just Richard and Tessa wearing many hats and doing everything. They began producing Unplugged Coffee in April 2023 and the product was launched at the Bayview Farmers Market the same month.
Richard’s 30 plus years in the “specialty” coffee industry has made him a student of coffee’s rich history and the importance of adopting sustainable practices to ensure its future.
The company will provide direct deliveries to South Whidbey after the Farmers Market season ends, and they encourage all of their customers to participate in the bottle buy-back program.
Currently Unplugged Coffee Concentrate comes in two sizes, 16 oz. (makes 16 servings of coffee) or 32 oz. (makes 32 servings of coffee) and is offered in Original, Half-caf, or Decaf. It’s available on South Whidbey at the Star Store, Clinton Food Market, Payless, Tonic Juice & Remedy, The Goose, and Greenbank Pantry, and can be shipped through www.eatsalinity.com.
For more information about the company and its Unplugged Coffee products, contact Richard or Tessa Karno through their website theunpluggedcoffee.com,
