Lorenzo de Amicis

Service Manager

Lorenzo’s official job is keeping the equipment up and running, both in our cafes and the cafes of our wholesale partners. That should be enough work for any one person. Lorenzo, however, dabbles in a few other interests. And when we say “dabbles,” what we mean is, “He owned his own garage, where he repaired 1960s race cars.”

Sam Spillman

Director of Coffee and Cafe Experience

From her first coffee job to fast forward 10 years in the industry as barista, trainer, and now Director of Coffee for Caffe Vita, community has always been her focus. Coffee is a tool to bring people together from all over the world. That made Vita a natural home for Sam, who embodies the notion that-- as she herself would say-- "without people, coffee is just a plant".

Scott Baldwin

Director of Sales

Scott is the perfect robot version of an indie coffee Director of Sales. It’s like two nerdy kids in 1980s suburban Seattle hacked their home computer, creating a guy who digs soccer (of course), who brews his own beer (duh), lives for camping (naturally), and loves a neat organic espresso (obviously).

dana ericsson

Head of Accounts

Dana’s favorite part of working at Vita is bringing together the different parts of the team for events and festivals. Whether she’s doing that remotely or in-person, Dana serves as the glue holding together all of our loose ends. Sort of like those superheroes with the super-stretchy arms and sticky tractor beams, you know the ones.

Alicia Basinger

Director of Retail Operations

You can trust Alicia—we certainly do. She’s been here since starting as a barista in 2008. Over these dozen years, we’ve learned a lot about Alicia—and not just her taste in short iced americanos. She’s an incredible colleague who supports, listens to, and builds connections between Vita’s diverse crew of baristas and patrons.

Max McLoughlin

Creative Director

Maximilian McLoughlin was born and raised in Seattle, so naturally he is a coffee person. He started at Vita as a barista and ended up as Creative Director for the past 10 years. Max isn’t a morning person so the first thing he does when he wakes up is grind a cup of Vita.

Michael Mendoza

Coffee Educator

It only took one cup of delicious coffee and a friendly barista to change Michael’s life. Now, as the Head Wholesale Trainer in Seattle, he helps baristas take Caffe Vita’s coffee and make people’s days, no matter who or where they are. It’s his passion to ensure that our Wholesale Partners have access to the training and education that will empower them to brew the best coffee they can, while creating a memorable experience for people on both sides of the coffee bar.

Kori Nyquist

Warehouse Manager

Kori joined us in the warehouse a couple years ago, and is now our Assistant Warehouse Manager. Kori is a person of exquisite taste, and something of a sensualist. For instance, Kori’s favorite drink? A quad shot oat milk latte.

brian edwards

Customer Experience Specialist

Before accepting his account manager position, Brian hustled his way into our hearts as a Vita delivery driver. Maybe it was his time navigating Seattle traffic all morning that turned him into the mocha monster he is today.

deming maclise

CEO, Owner

Deming came to Seattle in the early 90s as a musician, working as a Barista by day while playing in bands at night. Eventually he opened his own coffee house, Caffe Fiore, then three more locations and 12 restaurants later he took over Caffe Vita in January 2020. He still plays music everyday, is an avid concert goer and loves coffee house culture. Favorite coffee drink: Cortado with oat milk. First concert ever: The Police

tom buckley

Chief Operations Officer

Tom in the 1990’s worked for Mostly Muffins -- a bakery that sold pink cookies and blueberry cream cheese muffins to all the coffee shops around town. When Vita started up in 1995, blocks away from Mostly Muffins, it quickly became Tom’s favorite coffee. Fast forward to 2002, Tom started his journey with Vita as a minority partner and VP of Sales and Marketing. In 2012, Tom moved to a Sales Director role at La Marzocco. In 2020, Tom was recruited back to Vita by new owner Deming Maclise to help bring out the best Vita can offer.

Leslie Kwon

East Coast Educator + Account Manager

Leslie is the Educator and Account Manager for Caffe Vita in New York City. She is passionate about connecting people from all walks of life through food and drinks. Her favorite movie is Ratatouille.

Jasyn Byrum

Purchasing Manager

Jasyn has been in the coffee industry for over 10 years. He started as a service technician for Visions Espresso and moved to La Marzocco where he spent many years in the parts department. Jasyn loves the coffee industry's tight-knit community of weirdos who are passionate about what they do. In his spare time, he enjoys being in nature and making electronic music. At home he sips espresso from his La Marzocco Linea Mini and when out in nature, the AeroPress is his preferred brew method.

Erin Fitzpatrick

Director of Wholesale Grocery

Erin, Nor'Wester superfan, has always been deeply tied to the neighborhood - born on Capitol Hill while her family has been involved with St. Joseph's Church on 18th for over 50 years. She's also an identical twin, so if you say hi and she doesn't respond, you might have the wrong gal.

Eric Farrugia

Director of Operations

Shelley Griffin

Director of Ecommerce

Junior Becerra

Key Account Manager

Gabrielle Moorhead

Vice President of Retail operations