Five generations strong.

In 1898, when my great-grandfather Stratis Mountanos and his brother Richard left their home in Greece to make a new life in America, they took with them little more than a steadfast work ethic and a penchant for great coffee. It didn’t take long before the duo developed a devoted following in a post-Gold Rush San Francisco, California, selling roasted chesnuts, coffee beans and spices from a mule-drawn wagon.

It was their beans that became the highly sought-after product synonymous with the Mountanos name. Inspired by their success, my Great Uncle Richard decided to bring the roasts all the way to the nation’s capitol. And despire a movement to keep the “undignified” cart and donkey off The Hill, one famous customer put his foot down: “As long as I’m in office”, said Franklin D. Roosevelt, “the Greek on the corner stays!"