In 1998, Clay Eiland found himself at a crossroads.
After years in technology retail, the rapidly changing industry led him to reconsider what he wanted his next chapter to look like. A lifelong appreciation for great coffee, paired with an introduction to DFW Coffee Exchange, helped brew a new opportunity that ultimately led to the launch of Eiland Coffee Roasters on June 1, 1998.
More than 26 years later, Eiland Coffee Roasters remains one of Richardson’s longest-running specialty coffee businesses. While the company has grown, the coffee industry has evolved, and a second location has opened – Clay still remembers those early days clearly.
Richardson was an easy choice from the start.
“Richardson is where I went to school, and honestly it just felt right,” Clay said. “It’s a safe city with a great police department, great fire department, and a local government that genuinely runs well. Beyond all of that, it’s just a really good community, and that matters when you’re building something you want to last.”
Like many small businesses, Eiland’s first chapter was built on persistence. For 12 years, Clay and his wife, Noel, operated the company out of their home – roasting, packing and delivering coffee across the Metroplex.
Clay credits Noel as a key part of the business’s foundation. “Without question, my wife Noel deserves the most credit,” he said. “She stood by me through the years when the business wasn’t making much money, and her belief in what we were building meant everything to me.”
As demand grew, Noel pushed for one of the company’s most important steps forward: moving beyond their small, five-pound roaster and investing in larger equipment to keep up with orders. “Without that nudge, I’m not sure we would have scaled the way that we did.”
Another pivotal moment came when Clay was invited to Seattle by the president of La Marzocco. At a time when specialty coffee culture was still emerging in North Texas, the visit exposed him to a higher standard of craft – from espresso extraction and milk texturing to machine calibration and cafe training.
When he returned home, Clay began sharing his newly learned practices to wholesale partners across DFW. “I became the only coffee person going out to accounts to train onsite,” he recalled.
His commitment to the craft only deepened from there. In 2013, he became a licensed Q-Grader, a prestigious coffee-grading credential held by a small number of coffee professionals in North Texas, further reinforcing the expertise behind every Eiland roast.
A unique piece of Eiland’s story sits inside the roastery itself ,where they continue to roast on a 1969 German cast iron coffee roaster, a machine Clay considers irreplaceable.
“It roasts coffee like nothing else in the world,” he said. “Hot or stone cold, it tastes incredible, and modern roasters simply can’t replicate that.”
The machine has become one of the company’s most prized possessions. Today, Clay estimates it would cost roughly nine times what he originally paid for it.
The roaster isn’t the only part of what makes Eiland unique. Clay says many of the things customers value most are the things he once took for granted. Training, equipment setup, maintenance, customer service, and ongoing support for wholesale partners have become hallmarks of the company.
“As we’ve been talking with more people, I’ve realized that so many of the things we do for our customers that I consider completely normal are things a lot of other businesses simply don’t do.”
At the center of it all is what Clay describes as a perfectionist streak.
“Over 26 years in business I’ve learned you can’t be a perfectionist about everything,” he said. “But when it comes to the coffee itself, I refuse to compromise.”
For visitors, that attention to detail can be experienced at either Eiland location. The original Interurban Street roastery remains a destination for freshly roasted coffee and coffee enthusiasts, while the Canyon Creek café offers a more traditional coffeehouse experience with espresso drinks, pastries, breakfast offerings, indoor seating, and a covered patio.
Clay’s recommendation for first-time guests is refreshingly simple.
“Get the same drink you always get from your go-to coffee shop and then judge for yourself,” he said. “That’s the best way to know how good someone really is, and I’ll take that challenge all day long.”
Whether it’s a cappuccino, latte, drip coffee, or espresso, he believes the comparison speaks for itself.
The loyalty Eiland has built over the years is evident in unexpected ways. Clay recalls that when baristas move on to new opportunities, it is common for customers to bring gifts to thank them and wish them well.
“That says everything about the kind of people who walk through our doors.”
That sense of community became even more visible during the 2020 pandemic.
“People rallied around us in a way we’ll never forget,” Clay said. “They were buying online, coming by just to show support, doing whatever they could to make sure we made it through.”
More recently, another experience reminded him why he loves the industry.
A few members of the Eiland team visited Trinity Christian Academy to lead a coffee tasting and educational experience for two high school classes. Clay hoped that perhaps one student would leave interested in learning more about coffee.
Instead, every student wrote a thank-you letter afterward.
“I told myself that if even one student walked away excited or curious about the industry, the whole thing would have been worth it,” he said. “But every single student signed a letter.”
Looking ahead, Clay is energized by what is happening right now. The company continues to grow through word of mouth, strong relationships, and coffees that are scoring higher than ever before.
Recently, while reviewing invoices from the earliest days of the business, Clay noticed something that stopped him in his tracks. Not a single one of those companies was still operating.
Specialty coffee has changed dramatically since 1998. Many businesses that began during that era have disappeared. Eiland Coffee Roasters is still here, still growing, and still serving the community that helped make it possible.
For a business built on relationships, craftsmanship, and a willingness to keep learning, that feels like a fitting legacy and an exciting foundation for whatever comes next.
Eiland Coffee Roasters
532 N. Interurban Street
Richardson, TX 75081
972.991.0100
Eiland Coffee at Canyon Creek
2701 Custer Parkway, Suite 917
Richardson, TX 75080
972.231.1210
