A conversation with Kevin Mason and Mary Miller of Capitol City Caramels 

Rachel Benton

Raise your hand if you were feeling tense about the election. Me too, so I wanted to offer us something extra sweet, buttery, and warm to ease our nerves, soothe our spirits, and sweeten our day. Caramel is such a delightful way to do that.  

Creative and community-oriented people, Kevin Mason and Mary Miller of Capitol City Caramels at the Olympia Farmers Market are truly delightful people with the best caramel I’ve ever tasted.  

Their artistry shows up in so many ways: the flavors they offer (and keep experimenting with), the clever, beautiful gift packaging they create, and the trinket exchange at their booth, where you can discover various artistic treasures every visit. 

Mason and Miller are only at Farmers Market on Saturdays, so I encourage you to visit whenever your schedule permits, especially as the holiday season approaches.  

The conversation 

Benton: How did you two get into the caramel business?  

Miller: “My mom was the lavender vendor at the market for about 17 years, and back in 2019 she wanted to sell caramels at her booth. We all love grandma’s recipe, which is what we use at CCC today, and have been a family of caramel lovers all our lives. 

“I don’t know where grandma got the recipe to begin with. She was born in Norway and lived in South Dakota. She would send packages all the time, and if it was heavy, we knew caramel was in there and we would fight over it.

“She wanted to sell a little jar of caramels at her stand but didn’t realize what was required. Together, we all did the work to get what was needed, but were told we couldn’t sell caramel at her booth after all, so we went ahead and started this company.”  

Benton: What have you enjoyed about your company, and only selling your product at Olympia Farmers Market?  

Mason: “It’s really fun because we love interacting with people, and every interaction is fun because people are buying a treat or a gift. Everybody is always smiling and happy at our booth! The only problem we have is when we run out.”  

Benton: What inspires your caramel flavors? 

Miller: “The inspiration comes from all over the place! We just started making the gochujang this year after we spent time with our daughter and her friends in LA. Someone made these snickerdoodles with a ribbon of caramel going through them. When we tasted the spice, we asked the friend about it, and she said it was gochujang. As soon as we flew home, we began experimenting with that flavor! 

“I had a really good orange cardamom latte in Portland once which inspired caramels of that flavor. We have a lavender caramel as a nod to mom.” 

Mason: “We have pumpkin pie spice! There’s no pumpkin in it, but it was inspired by Mary’s mom who makes a really good pumpkin pie. We decided to put all the spices she uses for it in a batch of caramel, and it was perfect, as was, the first time!” (They also offer peanut, strawberry, coconut, sea salt, and other flavors at their booth).  

Benton: Tell me why you love to sell at the market.  

Miller: “We loved going down to the market and helping mom in her booth, and we thought it would be really sad for us when she stopped because we had so much fun at the market! We love the customers, the fellow vendors, and have met some truly amazing people and heard some incredible stories.”  

Mason: “The kind of experience we have at the market is available to everyone who comes down there; it’s not exclusive to us. If you start talking to the vendors, they’ll start talking to you. Every time you come to the market, you can get a lot more than just whatever it is you need at the market. ... This is the only place we will ever sell. We always make a batch of samples just for the vendors and pass them out to every vendor when we are there.”  

Miller: “And now that we have that trinket box and art exchange, we have met people from around the world.”  

Mason: “When we had a trinket box in front of our house, we didn’t have the chance to talk to them. Having it at the booth is perfect because we get to enjoy conversation!” 

Miller: “The number one thing we hear people say is, ‘Oh, I can’t do art.” We tell them, ‘Yes you can!’ Sometimes they say, ‘My stuff is not good enough to put in here,’ but someone always ends up loving it.”  

A lesson for us all: beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the arts and caramel are for everyone.

Rachel is a writer, arts advocate, performing arts enthusiast, and passionate about our beloved Thurston County. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in History and Political Science and a minor in Music. You can enjoy more of Rachel's writings by visiting her website. All inquiries for Rachel can be submitted here.