The Spokane community and coffee scene are still mourning the death last month of local coffee entrepreneur Deborah "Deb" Di Bernardo. Di Bernardo, 70, had been battling breast cancer that, after a first round of treatment, went into remission but returned in 2020. She died Dec. 15, 2024.
Di Bernardo founded Spokane's Roast House Coffee (423 E. Cleveland Ave.) and downtown's First Avenue Coffee (1011 W. First Ave.) and practiced what she preached in her business practice by buying only organic, fair-trade coffee beans that were also grown under a natural shade canopy as opposed to clear-cut groves.
"Deb started the company with really 'the vision was the values,' and that was it," says Aaron Jordan, a longtime friend and colleague. "It was sourcing organic coffee, paying premiums for women-produced coffees, working to create sustainable, livable situations for the team, for the producers that we work with, and being a local company — being committed to our community here in Spokane."
Di Bernardo's hard work paid off as Roast House won 20-plus awards over the years including the Golden Bean and numerous Good Food Awards.
Jordan first met Di Bernardo in 2012 when he was 19 years old and inquired about work or an internship at Roast House.
"I think the first thing that she said to me was, 'F--- off,' and the second thing she asked me was, 'Where's your mother?' Because she genuinely actually thought — I found this out years later — that I was 12," Jordan says.
He didn't give up, though, and eventually Di Bernardo gave Jordan a chance to learn the ins and outs of the industry from the "coffee queen" of Spokane herself, teaching him core values not just in the business, but all areas of life.
Di Bernardo was known for her blunt and colorful language, which inspired the name of Roast House and First Avenue Coffee's signature F-Bomb cold brew.
"Most Deb stories don't come without some F-bombs," Jordan says. "They're always key aspects of interactions with her, but she always said it with joy. That was the best part about it. I don't think I ever heard her say it out of anger or rage. She was a very unique person to be able to pull that off."
Di Bernardo sold First Avenue Coffee to Doyle and Carri Wheeler in 2023, while Jordan and his wife, Allison, became Roast House Coffee's owners after her death, having worked alongside Di Bernardo as managing partners for the past several years.
"She involved us so much into the business and what was built," he says. "Yes, we don't have her physically anymore — she was bigger than life, so her existence will always be a presence for us." ♦
