Cellar.Door.Coffee.News

April 21, 2008

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:18:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:46:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:18:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:04:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:34:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:26:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 05:42:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:12:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:24:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:22:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:18:00 +0000

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

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:04:00 +0000

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!