Stumptown Coffee Roasters
I had the honor of visiting the Stumptown Coffee training and roasting facility in Portland, Oregon mid last year.
Im assuming that if you've found yourself on a site like this - then you've probably already heard of Stumptown. Or at least you may have picked up one of their cold brews at a Whole Foods. (just being honest) If not, here's quick refresher course: Founded by Duane Sorenson, they opened up their first location in 1999 and have gone on top open shops/roasteries in numerous cities including Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.
They've always seemed more like the rock n roll version of third wave in comparison to say, the dapper Intelligentsia and Apple like Blue Bottle interpretation. That's not to say I don't like the other interpretations. I just love how each brand has their own personality.
The entrance to the facility acts as a tasting room but was felt more along the lines of a museum. It's filled with memorabilia from Duane Sorensons own personal collection. So freakin' cool.
This location not only houses their massive roasting facility but is also the home of their training facility. There were classes going on while I was there and you know I would have loved to have stuck around to learn something from those guys!
A room dedicated to cupping different coffee's. The person in there asked not to be photographed - Which I gladly obliged - but we had a great conversation about cameras/coffee. And I wanted to just chill in there all day cupping different coffees. What a job!
Their roasting operations are on a whole other level. And up until that point, I had never seen a Probat Roaster that massive. Very cool. Dude looked like a freakin' Transformer.
Roasting staff
I also made a quick stop off at their original location on Division Street that was opened in 1999. It was very cool to see where it all started.
Lastly, I want to publicly apologize to everyone at Stumptown for the delay in getting this featured released. I am sincerely sorry for how long it took. I greatly appreciate you allowing me to visit with and photograph you all in action. I hope you dig the feature. Jeff.