Award-winning artisan, Kyle Layton, brings craft coffee to Salem

Years of commitment to his craft as a coffee maker opened the door for Kyle Layton to take on part ownership of Salem’s newest cafe, Prismatic Coffee Roasters. “I’ve had this dream for a long time of owning and operating a cafe and roastery, and it seemed like time to try to step into that,” Layton said.

Local coffee connoisseurs Evan Delgado and Ariel Ellis founded Prismatic Coffee Roasters with the goal of bringing craft coffee to Salem. Delgado and Ellis connected with Layton, recognized his unique skill set and passion, and offered him partial ownership and the opportunity to take point on Prismatic’s coffee experience.

Layton hopes Prismatic will fill a gap between Eugene and Portland for true craft coffee, offering the kind of artisanal experience that local connoisseurs crave. The cafe serves house-roasted coffee paired with house-made syrups for unparalleled coffees—“not in a way that seems like we’re gatekeeping coffee, but keeping the gate open for all types of coffee lovers,” Layton said.

Prismatic currently operates out of their espresso truck, serving pastries from Manna Bakery and a wide range of coffee drinks, while the cafe building in southeast Salem continues construction. They hope to open the cafe by the end of the year.

Layton’s curiosity for coffee sparked from the family trade of serving great food at events. Layton discovered a love for producing something excellent through the chaos of a kitchen, and regularly found himself serving food and drinks for his friends.

He bought his first espresso machine at age 18 and began experimenting with making his own syrups. “It got to a point where the people around me were like, you’re better at this than you might let yourself believe. You should do this. Go for it,” Layton said.

Shortly after, Layton landed a job at Ike Box. He said it was important for him to work somewhere that served great coffee and was “doing something good for the community.”

Tiffany Bulgin, Co-founder of Isaac’s Room—the umbrella organization for Ike Box and Isaac’s Downtown—saw deep passion and potential in Layton. Layton said Bulgin consistently supported him and offered constructive criticism to keep him moving forward. Bulgin gave Layton the opportunity to release his line of house-made syrups at Ike Box. 

Layton went on to work as the bar manager at Isaac’s Downtown for five years. “Kyle served Ike and Isaac’s with his whole heart,” Bulgin said. “He could really display his care for people through his craft of making beautiful coffee.”

During his time at Isaac’s, Layton continued to hone his craft, even participating in worldwide coffee competitions. Layton made it to the top 16 at the World Latte Art Competition on two different occasions in 2022. He even secured the championship at an Espresso State of Mind competition in Los Angeles in 2022. This summer, Layton placed fourth in an international coffee roasting competition.

Bulgin said they were sad to see Layton go, but they’re proud of him for pursuing his dream at Prismatic. “We believe in raising up and releasing leaders,” Bulgin said. It made sense for Layton to branch off in order to dive further into the world of roasting craft coffee.

Now at Prismatic Coffee Roasters, this internationally-recognized coffee artisan continues to hone and share his coffee craft with customers every day. Every delicious sip of Layton’s coffee tells the story of the passion and dedication of the artist behind it.