Green Beret, Pro Triathlete & Entrepreneur Will Wake You Up at Wildflower!

Pro triathlete, Nate Dressel is passionate that Wildflower athletes start their morning with the best cup of coffee possible. 

“Coffee is always an issue at races, right?” said Dressel. “Either there isn’t any at the race or it’s tough to make if you are camping. We wanted to make it easy for athletes to have the best cup of coffee imaginable.”

Nate’s company, Frontier Coffee will be on site for the entire Wildflower Triathlon Experience selling coffee by the cup, or by the box so that your entire campsite can enjoy freshly roasted, hot coffee as early as 4:30 AM. You can pre-order the $25 camp boxes of coffee at the Frontier Coffee Company web site.

Not only are the camp boxes available for pre-order on the Frontier Coffee website, but the Dressels have created a special blend just for triathletes – The Wildflower Blend – with a bit more caffeine than typical coffee and less acidity than you might get in a high-caffeine, light roast.

Dressel’s special Wildflower Blend represents the culmination of two of his passions in life – coffee and the Wildflower Triathlon. Since 2008, Dressel has competed in Wildflower eight times.

“I absolutely love that Wildflower is a family event that embraces camaraderie and positivity through sport,” said Dressel. “I’ve never felt so at home at an event as I’ve felt at Wildflower. This year I won’t be racing, but I’ll be bringing a little bit of ‘home’ to Wildflower in the form of a great cup of coffee.”

Dressel knows a little something about the importance of a morning cup of joe. The Special Forces soldier spent two years with a rucksack on his back.

“During training, we were pretty much always cold, hot, wet, tired, or hungry,” said Dressel about his time in infantry and trauma medicine training, where he learned how to do everything from treating the common cold to amputate a limb.

His high pain tolerance translated well to triathlon. Clearly, Dressel knows something about the pain cave. But while Dressel is willing to suffer for both his country and his sport, he is passionate about living a happy life.

“My wife Jen and I had a few jobs that were great learning experiences,” said Dressel from his home in Poulsbo, Washington. “But we didn’t want to live like that. Both of us shared a dream to open up a coffee shop. Not only did we want to create our own brand and not work for anyone else, we wanted to create a space where people could come and relax and feel like a regular. We wanted Frontier Coffee to be the happiest place on the block.”

Not only do the Dressels have a coffee shop in town, they also sell their freshly roasted beans online and have a wholesale business. And all of their beans are roasted to order, ensuring that their customers have the freshest, most delicious coffee at incredibly reasonable prices.

“I absolutely love the triathlon community,” said Dressel about his choice to get up at two in the morning so athletes can have their fix before the sun comes up. “And the Wildflower community is near and dear to my heart. We’re thrilled to be bringing Frontier Coffee to one of our favorite events on the planet.”