Courier Coffee Roasters

The coffee bar was positioned Saturday. It looks sick. High gloss conversion varnish over native Walnut. We will wrap it up as the finish coats of paint go up this week.

We are trying to be open the last week of July. Epic support from our friends at Coffee House NW, and Sterling Coffee Roasters, who have offered their help to get us running.

We are flirting all over the place with what to serve for espresso. Thanks to Little Red Bike Cafe we have one fully operational Synesso Cyncra espresso machine, while we refurbish the one for our cafe.

Everyone has been awesome. Please keep the last week of July in mind. We have been a little too busy to think about things like opening parties. It will be a joy to serve you.

Monday morning deliveries. Glass jars of whole bean Costa Rica San Isidro de Alajuela coffee from the Zamorana family were dropped on front porches. Fireworks were still carrying on at 3am. Alex Geddes pictured above riding our cargo bike, made in Eugene at the Center for Appropriate transport.

Toilet works. New water heater, now in the bathroom. A Pino Digital Electric Kettle Pro shares the only outlet, with a lunchbox record player. This morning we took a break outside, drinking our coffee in enameled steel mugs.

At noon it was groceries, then to a nearby apartment. Fresh basil, mozzarella, tomatoes, ciabatta, olive oil, and garlic. A light mist found us riding an hour later over the Burnside bridge, to Restoration Hardware. Then we biked to the roastery, for some espresso, and to gather the days final deliveries.

The workshop has been so clean and organized these last weeks. Huge thanks to our new staff Tyler and Natasha.

Current ETA wavers around mid-July. News came Tuesday that 3-phase power is already being supplied to our space. This is great news and we are now trying to work this to our advantage.

Friday I did a harried delivery of coffee to LRBC, later heading to meet plumbers and electricians at 923 SW Oak. Alex arrived later in the morning to fulfill all Eastside deliveries. The rest of the day was constant communication.

The drains are at least solid at our future space. Much is left to be done. We will work on bringing back the pictures.

At the roastery we have a new way to hold roasted samples- glass half pint jars. There are 25 samples of our production roasts. This replaces a complicated system of re-using paper bags.

Woodwork on the bar is getting completed- the future coffeebar.

Little Red Bike Cafe is moving out of their current place after Friday. Check it out on their blog. Yes- we are wondering about the Honeyed Yogurt Bowls too. We love LRBC.

Produce Row Cafe has finally reopened. A good place to try our coffee.

Jade Tea House in Sellwood is carrying our coffee. We are excited about their multiple water towers for different teas.

We are just booking on opening our new spot.

Courier Coffee, 923 SW Oak, has appeared unchanged the last week. Trust us, much is happening.

Natasha (above) has temporarily joined the staff at our workshop (before heading to work at Courier’s bar). She will be refurbishing the same espresso machine she will be using downtown. Strip it, rebuild it, make it better, make the roastery better.

Today we tried a granola bar prototype. Our friend is making menu items at night in her kitchen, helping us build a small but lovely menu. Made with equal parts honey and vegetable oil as liquid. Oats, seeds, fruit, grain, are the main part. The goal is to offer food, but perhaps not lunch. We want granola bars with the consistency of that puffed rice marshmallow bar, but savory over sweet. The bars should be thick, substantial, and filling on their own. It should be easy to remove honey and make these entirely vegan. We are absolutely thrilled to have our lovely cooking friends cooking up food for us.

We all had a fun time tasting granola bars today. Later when the sun came out Alex and I took a bike ride to Belmont Station.