A Tailor-Made Coffee Shop in a College Town

From Roastery to Café

Ann and Collin Schneider’s story in coffee began during their sophomore year of high school, when they started dating and also started working in the industry. Over the next decade, they held barista positions at Coava Coffee Roasters and Sterling Coffee Roasters, gaining experience across Oregon’s Willamette Valley from Newberg to Portland. Like many who spend years behind the bar, they eventually wanted to build something of their own. In April 2014, they launched Bespoken Coffee Roasters, a roasting operation. With young children, the couple relocated to Corvallis to be near family and to raise their kids in a smaller community. Then they found a space that could hold its own against the coffee scenes in Portland or even New York.

Teaching a College Town

Corvallis, a small college town, gives Tried & True a chance to introduce coffee to customers who may be unfamiliar with it. Each year, thousands of students with widely different levels of coffee knowledge arrive, and the café aims to meet them where they are and go beyond their expectations. Fostering a deeper understanding and a richer experience of coffee while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere can be difficult in a college town, where demand often calls for plenty of seating and outlets.

Ann Schneider at her new café, Tried and True Coffee Company, which she opened with her husband, Collin (above).

A Small Space with a Big Vision

The café, though clearly shaped by forward-thinking Northwest shops, feels like a New York-style spot because of its limited square footage. The Schneiders had initially intended to grow Bespoken’s wholesale business, but the opening of this space redirected those plans. The café showcases who the Schneiders are and what they do: coffee made to order, from roasting to extraction, in a space designed with the same care.

Retail coffee beans sit on handmade honeycomb shelves mounted on the wall. Minimal decoration keeps the room pleasant. Six seats near the bar look onto a custom Synesso* and encourage conversation with the barista and other customers. The menu mirrors the clean design—simple and direct. A single sheet of paper in a delicate frame lists the offerings and includes a genuine invitation to ask questions. This approach highlights their focus on simplicity and a move away from a long list of flavor additions. Instead, they offer homemade caramel and a seasonal flavor (currently fall spice), along with chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut.

Looking Beyond the Student Crowd

Collin identifies the main risk to their success: “to rely too heavily on a student population that will mostly dissipate in the summer. With all the school spirit, it’s easy to overlook the people that live, work, and play in the community year round. While we love students coming in, we want to make sure our place is one that caters to those who have made Corvallis their home.” Instead, they aim to be a resource for people both inside and outside the coffee industry, where questions are welcome and a better cup of coffee is the goal. Tried & True, with its emphasis on quality, craft, and simplicity, reflects the shifts taking place in the southern Willamette Valley—and in many other small communities far from the coffee hubs.

*An earlier version of this story misidentified the make of the espresso machine.