The Diedrich Story Since 1912

• 1912

  Charlotte Diedrich inherited the family coffee plantation in Costa Rica.

• 1915

  Carl Diedrich Sr.., son of Charlotte was born March 15, 1915 in Germany.

• 1948

  Carl Sr. learned the craft of coffee roasting while working for a roast master in the old city quarter of Naples, Italy.

• 1965

  Carl Diedrich Sr.. purchased a coffee farm in Antigua region of Guatemala, renowned as one of the world's greatest coffee growing regions. It was in Guatemala that Carl Sr built his first coffee roasting machine utilizing his engineering background. He then had 3 sons Carl Jr., Martin and Stephan Diedrich who worked the farm and developed both a love of coffee growing and a firsthand respect for the back-breaking work it takes to grow truly excellent coffee.

• 1972

  The Diedrich family began California operations by importing, roasting, and retailing coffee from the Diedrich Guatemalan farm. Carl Sr. was roasting his coffee on a roaster that he had designed and built with his own hands. Carl Sr. would drive in his 1962 VW van the 3000 mile round trip from California through Mexico to Guatemala and back four to five times a year. While in Guatemala, he managed the business of the farm and on each return trip he brought back a van load of sixteen 154-pound sacks of raw green coffee.

• 1978

  Carl Diedrich Sr. invented and hand-built his first roaster on the Guatemala farm in the 60's. His purpose was to build a roaster specifically designed to custom roast the very fine grade of coffee he was growing. His philosophy of roasting was considered near heresy at the time but is now widely regarded as the best way to roast high quality coffees. Carl's original coffee roaster was the inspiration for his son Stephan Diedrich. Stephan vastly improved Carl's original concept utilizing state-of-the-art technology and engineering.

• 1980

  Stephan Diedrich founded Diedrich Manufacturing Inc. He built the most innovative and highest quality coffee roasting equipment on the market. Stephan had previously worked for Boeing and brought his specialized technical ability to his father’s roaster design.
  Stephan realized that, with the growth of the small retail coffee industry and the growing consumer demand for specialty coffees, a new and improved method of roasting coffee was required. Coffee roaster technology had changed little in the past 70 years. Roasters were still using atmospheric gas burners, which did not distribute the heat evenly on the roasting drum, resulting in hot and cold spots. Roasters also did not allow for finite control of air moving through the roasting drum. Stephan’s familiarity with air cooled automotive and aircraft engines led him to the unique application of infrared burners which are still used in all Diedrich roasters today.

• 1981

  The Diedrich IR-12 Roaster took the industry by surprise. The design features of this new roaster maximized the inherent flavor of all coffees. Applying the correct combination of heat, airflow and timing, the IR-12 created the optimum environment for every varietal of coffee bean. This new roaster technology enabled complete control over the roasting environment, accommodating the differences in growing altitudes, cultivation techniques and processing methods as well as bean size, density and moisture content.

• 1985

  Stephen developed and sold Diedrich's first 40 kilo roaster, the industrial size roaster, thus entering a whole new segment of the coffee equipment market.

• 1991

  Stephan and his wife Becky, moved the company from California to its current location in Sandpoint, Idaho, a small town of less than 7,000 people in the northwest United States.

• 1995

  Stephen sells the first fully automated coffee roaster, which was cutting edge technology for the time.

• 1996

  Martin Diedrich's Company Diedrich Coffee went public and was later purchased by Starbucks.

• 1998

  Stephen Diedrich was awarded the SCAA’s Best New Product Award for the innovative IR-12 Automated In-Store Coffee Roaster. In less than two decades, Stephan and his wife Becky guided Diedrich Manufacturing, Inc. from its roots as a start-up in the family's garage in Costa Mesa, California, to one of the world's premier coffee equipment manufacturers.

• 2005

  The Diedrich Family was presented with the Specialty Coffee Association's Lifetime Achievement Award - previously bestowed on a handful of coffee luminaries including Starbucks founder Jerry Baldwin, Alfred Peet, George Howell, and Dr. Ernesto Illy.

• 2010

  Stephan earned his second SCAA’s Best New Product Award for the IR-3.

• 2012

  Michael Paquin joined the Diedrich Manufacturing team as their CEO.

• 2016

  Michael Paquin and a group of private investors acquired Diedrich Manufacturing and rebranded it as Diedrich Roasting, LLC.

• 2017

  Diedrich Roasters launched the CR-35 roaster which has become one of the most popular industrial roasters. This machine was designed from the bottom up to incorporate a host of physical and technological changes.

• 2019

  Michael Paquin przechodzi na emeryturę, lecz pozostaje członkiem zarządu. Karl Schmidt zostaje mianowany nowym dyrektorem generalnym Diedrich Roasters. Na przestrzeni ostatnich 30 lat Karl stał się rozpoznawalnym liderem w przemyśle kawowo-kakaowym. Karl jest sprawdzonym liderem z jasną wizją firmy, skoncentrowanym na kliencie, z głęboką znajomością branży oraz światowej klasy wiedzą inżynieryjno-konstrukcyjną. Jego wizja tego, w jaki sposób technologia palenia kawy oraz innowacje będą wykorzystywane i odbierane przez klientów na całym świecie, jest niezwykle cenna.

• TODAY

  Today Diedrich Roasters capitalizes on its industry reputation for high quality products and services. The company has experienced tremendous growth the past ten years, more than tripling in size, and much of that growth is attributed to our on-going commitment to specialty coffee and developing the technology to meet current needs. We are currently selling sophisticated automated and non-automated roasting solutions to companies worldwide, as more than half of what Diedrich manufactures is shipped outside the United States. Our products range in capacity from 1 kilo to 280 kilo coffee and cacao roasters and Diedrich has the ability to define and deliver complete, all-encompassing solutions to your roasting needs.

  We continue to refine our systems and are currently working on technologies like Alexa that will allow the roaster to verbally interface with the user via Amazon's Alexa to improve the timeliness and accuracy of information provided. This will enhance the roast masters understanding what is happening with the roast in real time and allow them the opportunity to influence the roast instantaneously.