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Stumptown Coffee: it’s a another must-visit spot in Portland. The coffee spot is associated with Portland’s hippest and is looked upon fondly by locals. They brew a delectable cup of coffee without any pretentious air.

After launching nearly 12 years ago with their cafe on SE Division Street, Stumptown has expanded to have eight cafes in total and a new headquarters that sprawls over 37,000 square feet. Lucky for us, not only is their coffee brewed right in our New York office (with the amount we go through, we could be their 9th cafe), but they also just opened a shop at W. 8th and MacDougal.

“For every distributor that treats coffee as espresso, a training session is required,” Director of Operations Matt Lounsbury explained to us. This involves learning to brew the perfect cup and also learning about the steps that it takes for the coffee to get to the point that it’s bagged up as Stumptown coffee—the sourcing, transportation and roasting.

We peeked in on one tasting session while we were there, involving both Kemex and Aeropress systems. The same coffee was brewed for both, but different parameters were used—different grounds (that number you tell them when buying ground coffee) and different timing.

One major takeaway from looking over the coffee gurus’ shoulders: when using a pour method, pour consistently and make sure to “chase” any dark spots. By saturating all of the grounds with water, you’ll have made sure that it’s extracted properly. Want to take your coffee-making on the go? The Aeropress is perfect for brewing the perfect cup with limited resources (think: camping in the Oregon outdoors).

Speaking of brewing coffee on the go, the Stumptown team agreed to give us a lesson in how to make the perfect cup of coffee during our gas station stops! Stay tuned for their visit to the bus.

Matt is wearing the Bensen in Olivewood. Photos by Collin Hughes. 

 

Tags: class trip, coffee, Collin Hughes, Profile