The Diedrich Family History

The Diedrich family has been a part of the coffee, tea and cocoa trade for three generations. The family began growing in the Antigua region of Guatemala in 1912 and today is recognized for their expertise in every facet of the coffee industry.

Carl Diedrich, Sr., was involved in growing coffee from an early age and in the early 1960s, developed the first Diedrich roaster. The growing and nurturing skills he learned from his parents were in turn passed along to his sons, Martin, Stephen and Carl, Jr., who were also raised on the plantation.

The family moved from Guatemala to Orange County, California in 1972 and opened the first Diedrich Coffee house in Newport Beach. Martin took over the retail and wholesale business in 1982, which has grown to more than 60 coffee houses throughout the country. Stephen who acquired his father’s mechanical abilities, and Carl, Jr. founded Diedrich Manufacturing Company in 1980 to build the Diedrich coffee roasting equipment.

The roasting methods developed over generations by the Diedrich family maximize the inherent flavor of all coffees. Applying the correct combination of heat, airflow and timing, Diedrich roasters create the optimum environment for every varietal of coffee bean. This technology enables 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.

Today Diedrich Coffee Roasters capitalizes on its rich coffee history by continuing the family tradition of high quality products and services. At the same time, Diedrich is looking toward the future- committed to the advancement of roasting technology and original product development.

Stephan Diedrich

Stephan Diedrich brings many years of both coffee and mechanical experience to Diedrich Manufacturing, Inc. Having spent much of his youth on a small family owned coffee farm in Guatemala, Stephan gained a broad knowledge in both the coffee cultivation and coffee processing methods. Early on he took an interest in the coffee processing machinery and mechanical devices.

At an early age, Stephan helped his father Carl rebuild Volkswagen engines and do other repairs on his 1962 VW van, which was used to commute and haul coffee from Guatemala to the US four or five times a year. This led to the ten-year-old Stephan and his brother Martin being hired by another coffee grower to rebuild the engine in his VW bus.

In 1969, the Diedrich family attended an airshow, which sparked Stephan's lifelong interest in aircraft. At every opportunity, Stephan rode his bicycle to the local airport where many Boeing engineers and employees were building or restoring antique airplanes.

While in eighth grade, Stephan took an after school job at the famous Movie land of the Air aircraft museum. This was at the time the world's largest privately owned collection of antique and WW11 aircraft. Stephan's knowledge of antique airplanes earned him the opportunity to conduct the tours of the museums aircraft and restoration facility on weekends.

Stephan attended the Rice Community College Airframe and Power plant program in Houston, Texas in the evenings while working at a Cessna aircraft repair facility during the day. He worked for a time at a Porsche Audi dealership in Southern California as a mechanic before relocating to the Seattle area to work for Boeing on the 747 program at which time he also earned his pilots license. Stephan has built a high performance two-seat airplane from blueprints and has restored another. He is currently building a single seat aerobatic biplane of his own design and has a 1936 Fairchild 24 awaiting restoration.

Carl Diedrich designed and built his first coffee roaster in the mid 1960's. His purpose was to build a roaster specifically designed to roast the finest grades of the strictly hard bean coffees he was growing. Many at the time questioned his roasting philosophy but now profile roasting is widely regarded as the best method to roast high quality coffees. The roasting methods developed over the years by the Diedrich family maximize the inherent flavor of all coffees. Applying the correct combination of heat, airflow and timing, Diedrich roasters create the optimum roasting environment for every varietal of coffee bean. This technology enables complete control over the roasting environment, accommodating the differences in growing altitudes, cultivation techniques and processing methods as well as size, density and moisture content.

In the early months of 1980, Carl Diedrich Jr. built several coffee roasters and was soon joined by Stephan. Stephan greatly refined the design of the roasters using state-of-the-art technology, innovative engineering concepts and high quality construction standards earning an industry award for first place Best New Product in 1998.

Early in the 1990's, Stephan started teaching coffee roasting classes for an east coast coffee company, which led to developing an extensive two-day coffee roasting class, currently held monthly at the Diedrich Manufacturing facility. This class regularly attracts participants from all corners of the world.

Today, Diedrich Manufacturing continues to focus on the family tradition of high quality products and services, including being an asset to the community. Diedrich Manufacturing currently employs approximately (50) people, including mechanical engineers, metallurgists, automation programmers, automation electricians, certified welders and specialized metal fabricators.

Stephan is looking toward the future committed to the advancement of roasting technology and original product development, while investing in his employees and the Diedrich Manufacturing Production Facility.