Cellar.Door.Coffee.News

June 17, 2009: Coffee in the Big Apple

2009-06-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing like finding business write-offs on your vacation, right? A couple weeks ago I took a few days off from my quotidian ways and flew off to NYC for some fun times with friends, and of course that had to involve a little tour of the coffee. Thanks to Travis for coordinating a lovely walking tour around Manhattan, drinking macchiatos and getting soaked by the drizzle. It was positively Portland-like, except for the tall buildings and umbrellas.

Our first stop was Abraço Espresso, where I had a delightful Ethiopian from their drip bar. You'll have to excuse the lack of detail since I wasn't taking notes. (Ahh, vacation!) The place is teeny, tiny, and reminded me that we should never complain about how little space we have in our kitchen and roastery. Damn. Still, it was great to be shoulder to shoulder with the half dozen other people in the room. Everyone was friendly and unpretentious and thoroughly delightful. If I'd had more time I would have come back for more and tried the food!

Ninth Street Espresso serves Intelligentsia coffee, though they make up their own espresso blend. It was a good, classic espresso, sweet and maybe some tobacco-y notes, though seriously, I wasn't taking notes. The menu is short and sweet, if a little stark. I suppose it goes with the decor or something.

Next we went to the Roasting Plant but suffice it to say the JavaBot was a nice gimmick that left me scratching my head. Why use fully automatic espresso machines to showcase your coffee? Honestly, I can say I have no idea whether the roaster knows what he's doing because the preparation was so bad. Everything, down to the designer Dixie cups in this place was for show. My Americano was fairly undrinkable. Next.

Our last coffee stop of the day was a great one: Gimme! Coffee. I'd actually tried a Kenyan of theirs that a friend had brought back a few months ago, and absolutely, really not liked it, so I was a little wary of the hype. Still, my macchiato was delicious and Jenny, the barista, was super friendly. Once it came out that I was visiting from Portland a small discussion ensued about how great Portland is. New York loves Portland, btw.

Speaking of which, it seems I couldn't go even a few hours without stumbling across something close to home. At a little cupcake shop, Butter Lane, I saw this:

Stumptown was everywhere. Like I said, NYC really likes Portland.

During the rest of the weekend I also visited Cafe Grumpy (Chelsea and Greenpoint locations, but no Philip Seymore Hoffman sightings! He must have been in their Park Slope shop), and Oslo Coffee. At the Brooklyn Grumpy I ordered a Kenya AA prepared in their Clover, and it tasted like a Kenyan. Bright and fruity, but not terribly mindblowing. I always wonder how shops really feel about having paid lots of thousands of dollars for those machines. Hmm.

My other Brooklyn coffee experience at Oslo was less than stellar. They assumed I wanted my coffee to go, which I didn't; were surprised I asked for a HOT Americano (sure it was warm outside, but is it that weird?); and then looked at me strangely and said they couldn't toast my bagel. Then to add insult to injury, their water station featured tiny Dixie cups. Am I a small child? Must I seriously refill my water cup three times before I sit down? The Americano tasted fine, but really, if they're going to treat you like that, why bother?

Fortunately, NYC redeemed itself with my final visit to the Chelsea Grumpy. I almost missed my plane, but hell, I was on a hunt for Mr. Hoffman and I thought he might be there. Alas no, but my macchiato was quite tasty, as was the muffin and $7 handmade raw chocolate bar I brought back for Jeremy. No golden ticket inside, but maybe next time.

Wow. That was long. All in all, I had a great time in NYC, but I'm glad to be back in PDX where at least I know where I'm going to get good coffee and where I'll just get 'tude.

May 4, 2009

2009-05-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

Those of you who read about us in Mix Magazine may have read about the cupping of our Ethiopia Sidamo (I believe the word they used was "phenomenal" . . .) Unfortunately, for us and you, we ran through the rest of our remaining bags rather quickly after that story came out and now it seems like getting any Ethiopia of comparable quality will be near impossible in the near future.

For those of you interested in reading about the problems with importing coffee from Ethiopia, I would recommend the Royal Coffee blog for a more extensive explanation, but I'll re-post the crux of the issue:

with the start of the 2009 season, a new system known as the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange has been implemented which has completely altered the way in which coffee is bought and sold. Without getting too technical, the new system essentially operates the way the New York “C” Market would if it were the only game in town. By government mandate, all coffee must be sold to the Exchange, at prices negotiated through an electronic bid/ask system (just like the “C”). For example, say an exporter has a contract to ship 300 bags of Grade-2 Yirgacheffe, and he has the coffee in his possession. He must now sell the coffee to the exchange at the daily asking price, and then buy from the exchange at whatever the offered price is. Sounds like the old system, except that when he sells his coffee, it goes into a bonded Exchange warehouse and loses all traceability other than the regional designation and grade (Yirg-2, in this case). That means that when he turns around and buys the 300 bags that he needs to cover his export contract, he has no idea where that coffee is coming from. Take a moment to ponder what this means for quality development: if an exporter cannot possibly know where his coffee is coming from, what incentive is there to undertake quality improvement projects at the farm-level? Or to go the extra mile in processing? Or even to care if the coffee is transported the right way?

Anyway, we're trying to figure out what to do in the mean time, especially since we use Ethiopians in some of our favorite blends, but for now we'll be trying to find some other interesting coffees. Come in a check out our Tanzanian AAA, for some bright, fruity East African goodness. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon!

May 2, 2009: Back in the Saddle Again

2009-05-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been into the shop in the past couple of weeks, let me bring you up to speed on our new roaster. Yes, we are now roasting on our new machine! Woo hoo! It's taken a little longer than we'd hoped, but finally, the gas is on and the flame is lit! (Okay, that's figurative. I'm pretty sure I turned it off when I left.)

I've been working on transferring our profiles to the bigger roaster, with some minor slips. Despite what I'd heard about the larger Diedrich's driving like tankers vs. speedboats, I've actually found that the baby is a bit of a hot rod, but I think control and finesse are well within my grasp. We've still got some work to do to get the whole space ship shape, but we've cleared the largest hurdle so far.

Anyway, I'll post pictures, and possibly video of our new baby soon, but until then, come see us, try the coffee, and I'm sure one of us will give you the exciting tour of the facility. Yes, we are a little excited about this.

March 13, 2009

2009-03-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

Quick, run to the closest news stand! Okay, just open a new page in your browser because the latest issue of Mix Magazine is out and it has a feature on Portland's new micro-roasters-- including yours truly!

So there you go, three articles in a week ain't bad. Now back to roasting!

By the way, if you haven't been in the shop in a while you're missing out on our rockin' Papua New Guinea FTO, and yes, we still have a bit left on the Ethiopian Koratie they reviewed in the article. Come and get it!

March 11, 2009

2009-03-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Two newspaper mentions in one week, hot diggity dawg! Ok, well one was the Willamette Week's Cheap Eats Guide where we we were listed as being East of Ladd's (we're on the west side of Ladd's, of course). Nevertheless, it was great to be included this year, especially since people are likely more preoccupied with cheap fare now more than ever. Plus, there was a cute picture of Carrie in the print version!

We were also a small part of a story in The Oregonian that made it sound like we were on the verge of being insolvent. Who let Jeremy do our PR? Sure, this is a tough time to be running a business, but we're fortunate not to be suffering the economic downturn too badly. Knock on wood, quick!

Keep your eyes peeled at the end of the month. A little birdie told me there might be something involving us in Mix Magazine. Until then, hope to see you soon.

February 10th, 2009

2009-02-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

We've made it a whole year!!! Woohoo! That's right, folks, we opened a year ago almost exactly and despite the fact that we haven't updated the blog in four months and we almost abandoned our Twitter feed, we're still roasting and brewing coffee like mad.

Some news from the past few months:

We bought our new roaster, a Diedrich IR-12 and we're currently building out our roastery in the basement, er, I mean cellar. And yes, that's why Jeremy is always covered in dust and grease.
Portobello Vegan Tratoria has joined us! Jeremy's brother, Aaron, has opened up an amazing restaurant in our space. Vegan or not, you will be amazed at what this man can do with vegetables. Everything is made from scratch and is to die for. Call to make a reservation (required for groups of 6 or more) or run the risk of waiting for an hour! Wed-Sat 5:30-10:30pm.
We made FOOD Day's 100 Favorite Things list for 2008! We're humbled and happy to be featured alongside Spella. If you haven't been to Spella's awesome espresso cart downtown you're missing out on an amazing affogato experience. Now you know what to do with your next unseasonably warm day.

Ok, I could blog about everything that's happened over the past 5 months for days (Snopocalypse, new president, the new Great Depression!) but let's look forward people!

I'll be posting more and more on this thing because it's my New Year's resolution. Better than promising to lose 20 pounds, right?

September 9, 2008: Sip the Summer while you can...

2008-09-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

Brian at Sip (the incredible juice/shake/smoothie bar right in front of People's Food Co-op) got some well-deserved recognition in our paper of record recently. He even managed to plug the Cellar Door coffee he uses in his diabolically decadent Mud Pie. Check out the article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2008/08/south_cart.html

July 15, 2008: Let the media speak!

2008-07-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Since we've been doing such a stellar job of keeping our blog current, I figured I'd let some professionals create the content for us. Here are some links to recent news articles and such about us to fill in the gaping hole since our last post.

From The Portland Tribune:
http://portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=121442219235055300

Coverage in the Southeast Examiner:
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=667&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1366001&om=1

Interview between Jeremy and Evan Kleinman, host of Good Food on KCRW:
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf080503la_burrito_project_r

In other news, we have some amazing art up right now from Nicholas Jay Liebrecht. Nicholas' unique style is to my eye a fusion of manga/pop art spiked with a grafiti-like flow and surreal distortions. Hurry, they're only up 'til the end of the month. Here's a sampling:

April 21, 2008

2008-04-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, well I've let a few too many weeks, er months, speed by between updates. My camera software has been on the blink but now we're back in action. For those of you who haven't stopped into the cafe this month, you're missing out on Carrie Instenes's exhibit, it all of its full color glory.

We hosted an opening reception for Carrie earlier this month and it was a huge hit. Congratulations to Carrie on getting her first show off the ground, we're sure there will be many more to come.

In other news, we've had to switch our purveyors of vegan treats. We were really loving Cherry Bomb Bakery's cupcakes among many other things, but alas, the bakery is no more. In the meantime we've been trying to decide which of the plethora of vegan pastry options to go with. As for now we'll have cupcakes from Saint Cupcake, and an assortment of stuff from Dovetail. We may add Blacksheep and Monkeywrench stuff to the mix as needed. Seriously, we can't believe our job entails sampling all of this stuff . . .

Finally, in coffee news, Jeremy's rockin' a great espresso blend right now, and we've just started serving two Fair Trade organic coffees from Papua New Guinea and Nicaragua Segovia. Each one is rich, full-bodied, and delightful. I've also got a Costa Rican coming on soon, and we're getting excited about the prospect of new coffees for the farmers markets! Come in to the shop and try them out. It doesn't take much to convince Jeremy to pull out the Aeropress or the filter cone to showcase something new. Hope to see you soon!

February 15, 2008

2008-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Phew. Well, 5 days and no major mishaps later, we've officially ended week number one. Things have been going really well and we feel truly welcomed by our new neighbors. Thanks to all of you who have come in already! We hope to see you again soon. Our hours thus far are Monday-Friday 7am-3pm and Saturday 8am-2pm. We will be CLOSED this Monday, however, in solemn observance of Presidents' Day. Nah, really, we just need another day to finish up some things around the place . . .

In all of our haste in trying to get the place finished we didn't get much of a chance to publicly recognize all the folks who have helped us along the way. Thanks to our friends and family who have helped us with both sweat and real equity. We especially want to thank Grandpa Pat, Noni Carolyn, and Nana Gabriela for taking time out of their lives (and traveling thousands of miles) to come and help us. We couldn't have done it without you. To Opa and Abuelita Lin, we hope you'll be able to visit us soon and see what you've helped us accomplish. We miss you all!

February 12, 2008

2008-02-12T19:18:00.001-08:00

OMG! We're open. Just coffee and baked goods for now. More soon. Come say hi!

Hours for now are Tue-Fri 6:30am-3:00pm. Depending on how dead we are we may be open Sat-Sun 7:30am-3:00pm. We'll confirm on Friday.

Yipee!

January 17, 2008

2008-01-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

We've been hard at work on the new space, but as always, it's taking a bit longer than I hoped. We spent more time cleaning before getting started on the remodeling, but now things are definitely underway. Big thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way, especially our magnificent paint crews. Now we just have the floors, ceiling, and counter to take care of. Easy right?

December 19, 2007

2007-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Ain't it cute?

Surprise, surprise . . . we recently decided to go crazy and lease a space to open a coffeeshop in January of '08! How on earth are we crazy enough to open yet another cafe in the completely over-caffeinated city of Portland, OR? Well, to be honest, we still get way too many bad cups of coffee in this town, despite its current status as coffee mecca. And yes, of course, we are completely insane.

The truth is that we've been looking for a space for almost 2 years now, so when we found the cute little victorian on a corner with a kitchen already built out we pounced on it before fully coming to our senses. Twelve hours later we were meeting with the landlord to sign a lease. Hallelujah.

So for you curious folks, the new digs will be at 2001 SE 11th Ave (between Hawthorne and Division). We'll be serving French press coffee, espresso, tea and a few bites to eat. You know the drill. We imagine that the bulk of our business will be coming from the surrounding warehouses and offices so our hours will be fairly limited at first, probably something like M-F 6:30am-3pm, unless you start beating down our door, demanding that we be open on weekends. Being the parents of an extremely active (and impatient) 2 year-old, we're trying to save the remaining shreds of our sanity by giving ourselves days off. At least until farmers' market season starts up again and we go back to working 7 days a week. Woo! Can't wait to see you there. Check back for more details soon.

November 6, 2007

2007-11-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that Barista Magazine had an article this month heralding the death of the blend, (journalists never tire of heralding the death of something or other, do they?) we've been working on a few different blends that will hit our virtual store shelves soon. I do love the fact that people are becoming more and more interested in single origin coffees, but for better or worse, some people are just looking for a good cuppa', so it's our job to provide just that without asking too many questions about which roast levels they prefer, whether they want earthiness or acidity, fruitiness or nuts in their drug of choice. Our New Day Rising Blend is incredibly popular for that reason. Sure, you can take the time to analyze how the different coffees balance each other out with a different characteristics and roast levels, or you can just drink it while your neurons begin to fire.

October 13, 2007

2007-10-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, a quick recap of what Cellar Door Coffee has been up to the last few busy weeks:

The farmer's market came to a swift end with lots of rain and soggy table cloths. Still, it was lots of fun and people seemed to appreciate us all the more for bringing hot coffee on such a cold, wet day.

We started our bike deliveries, weaving around S.E. with our trusty Burley trailer in tow. The weather so far has been great so we haven't had to try out our rain gear yet, but I'm sure it's in the cards for us some day very soon. If you'd like us to deliver coffee to your home or office please check out our subscription page or contact us. We have the new Peru and Sidamo also available although their still not on the website. Let us know if you're interested in those also. The Peru is great as both a light or full city roast, and the Sidamo explodes in your mouth with lemony citrus and light jasmine notes. Strange to imagine in a coffee if you've never tried it, but delicious, I promise!

And most recently and very excitingly, our coffee is now available in Limbo (on SE 39th, just south of Holgate, next door to TJ's)!
If you're hankerin' for a little of that farmer's market feel mid-winter there are few places that can beat it. Most of Limbo's produce is sourced locally and is organic, not to mention that they have an amazing herb and spice selection. Please support our local, independent grocers!

Anyway, we're trying to keep up with our small, but expanding business while working a couple other jobs and being parents to a crazy toddler, so please bear with our slow web updates. Go shop at Limbo and Food Fight!

September 23, 2007

2007-09-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, three weeks without an update! Sorry. I'll make up for it by having lots to report:
First and foremost, please check out our bike delivery options for this Fall and Winter! We're really excited to get started with home/office delivery, so let us know if you'd like to sign up.

Second, last week (or was that two weeks ago?) we introduced two new coffees at the market, our Guatemala Palo Alto Azul Estate, and the New Day Rising Blend, both have gotten rave reviews all around. The Guatemala is a sweet, caramel medium roast that has made several dark roast lovers question their allegiances. The New Day Rising Blend (thank you, Husker Du) can best be described the way Jeremy puts it, "it's your Continental breakfast in a cup -- rich, buttery toast, with a splash of orange juice citrus on the side." How you can resist a description like that is beyond me. Both will of course be available with our delivery subscriptions!

Third, we're busy working on our new batch of coffees, some from Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, and Peru, to name a few new origins on our menu. Most of them are Fair Trade Organic, and of course, delicious. We'll let you know when we add them to the website.

Finally, next weekend is the last for this year's Montavilla farmers' market. We're sad to see it end, but we're glad we got such a great reception from the neighborhood and the rest of the market attendees. If all goes well we'll definitely be back next summer. Hope to see you for the final weekend on September 30th from 10am-2pm!

August 28, 2007

2007-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Good news if you've run out of coffee mid-week: you can now find Cellar Door Coffee at Food Fight! Vegan Grocery (4179 SE Division)! We're working on finding more outlets around town, so we'll let you know how those develop.

Beginning in October (after the Montavilla market ends for the year) we will also be offering home or office delivery via bike! Jeremy has a sweet new Xtracycle on his bike that he's dying to put to good use. If you're interested in signing up for delivery, drop us a note and we'll keep you posted on the details.

This past Sunday was our busiest yet at the Montavilla Farmers' Market, especially as Jeremy and I had to manage the booth without our lovely brother Aaron this time. We sold out of several varieties -- sorry if you missed out on the one you wanted! Now, of course, we have Food Fight! to help you out with that. We'll also definitely bring more of everything next Sunday . . .

Finally, just a reminder that we're more than happy to take any special requests, whether for half-pound bags, or coffee ground to a certain size. If you call (503-775-3503) or email us by the Saturday before the market we can be sure to bring your coffee and hold it for you at the stand. You could even come pick it up at the roastery if you let us know in advance.

August 14, 2007

2007-08-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Lots of folks who came by last Sunday said that they saw our write up in the Oregonian's FOODday last Tuesday. If you missed it, here it is!

The market just keeps getting better and better, more vendors, more happy folks with local fruits and veggies, and cups of french press coffee, of course. We've had a few people ask about half pounds of coffee, ground coffee, and coffee delivery to home or office. If you drop us a line by email or phone, we'll be happy to do what we can to get our coffee to you when and how you need it. We can even point you in the right direction if you're thinking about picking up a grinder or other brewing gear.

On the sustainability front, we're currently working with Transfair USA to gain Fair Trade Roaster certification. Watch for updates on that process and more Fair Trade certified coffees on the menu. We've been doing a lot of reading and talking with folks on this lately, and are floating the idea of a Fair Trade movie and discussion night. Let us know what you think.

Thanks for everyone's support! We'll see you on Sunday.

August 1, 2007

2007-08-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at this week's market, and it turns out that we'll be making an appearance in the Oregonian's Food Day section next Tuesday as part of their Market Watch column! I guess something about using a cordless power drill and a grain mill to grind coffee catches people's attention.

This week we're working on developing a roast for our organic Chiapas. I'm very excited about this coffee as Mexico had a great harvest this year (check out the Oaxaca decaf we're offering as proof) and people have already been showing interest at the market about checking out this coffee. We'll let you know when it's available for sale on the site.

Don't forget to stop by and say "hi" at the Montavilla Farmers Market this Sunday from 10am-2pm!

July 24, 2007

2007-07-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Phew! We had our first day of market insanity on Sunday at Montavilla Thanks to those of you who stopped by to see us! We had a great time running around like crazy, brewing hundreds of cups of coffee without the benefit of electricity or running water. For those of you who couldn't make it, we're serving up french-pressed coffee and on hot days we'll also have our coffee iced. Don't forget to buy a pound for home--we'll be sure to bring more Sumatra. See you next Sunday!