The bag travels a few miles, not a few thousand
Water Avenue Coffee says 90 percent or more of what it roasts is hand delivered to partners within 50 miles of its Portland roastery. Trailhead delivers to markets and cafes by cargo bicycle and pedal-electric tricycle to keep vans off Portland streets. Wandering Goat in Eugene hands its coffee grounds to gardeners in the neighborhood and buys wind-generated power from its local utility, EWEB.
That is what buying local looks like in practice: a bag roasted this week, moved a short way, by someone who lives on the route. The club's first promise, roasted and shipped within 3 days, is built on the same idea. Oregon's 178 independent roasters, by the count of the Roast Local directory, can do this because the state is full of people who buy from them.
The jobs are in Portland, Bend and Eugene
Roseline's roasting, packaging and distribution jobs are at its Portland roastery, and its cafe jobs are in its Portland cafes. Backporch has roasted in Bend since 2006 and has a staff of more than 40. Case Study's four cafes are all in Portland, from Rose City Park to Portland State. Sisters Coffee has been one family's business in the town of Sisters since 1989, starting with a five pound roaster in a log cabin.
The dollar keeps moving after the roaster is paid. Coava's cafes stock pastries from Bakeshop, chocolate from Woodblock Chocolate and tea from Smith Tea. Lone Pine in Bend pours Jersey milk from Garry's Meadowfresh in Mulino and uses hand-harvested salt from the Oregon coast. Thump serves food from its own bakery and Backporch buys from Haven bakery daily. A roaster with local suppliers keeps a second set of Oregon businesses open with the same purchase.
You know who roasted it, and you can ask them
Coava's Portland roastery runs weekend cuppings and espresso classes open to the public. Noble in Ashland teaches a four class coffee series each month, from seed to cup, in its coffeehouse in the Railroad District. Dapper & Wise in downtown Hillsboro invites people to stop by the roastery any time. Heart in Portland donates roast batches that miss its standard to the local food bank rather than selling them.
A roaster with a public door has to stand behind the bag. Nossa Familia's founder brought his family's Brazilian coffee to Portland in 2004, and the family farms in Brazil's Sul de Minas and Cerrado regions are still at the heart of its direct trade model. That is a different relationship from a label you cannot trace past a distribution center.
What local roasters put back
Nossa Familia has run the p:ear Barista School since 2013, an eight week course teaching homeless and transitional youth barista skills, and gives permanent staff 16 hours of paid volunteer time a year. Sisters Coffee has donated $2 from every bag of Friends Blend to Friends of the Children since 2024. Portland Coffee Roasters sends $1 from each bag of OPBEANS to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Thump funds a Central Oregon lacrosse program with more than 220 players and hosts Bend's running groups from its cafes.
Water Avenue's River Trip blend supports the Human Access Project's work on the Willamette. Trailhead gives to local schools. Early customers of Noble were Rogue Valley restaurants and inns that put it on their menus before anyone else did. All of this rests on bags sold in Oregon. The giving is downstream of the buying.
Small roasters stay open when people buy from them
Caravan started in a garage in Newberg in the 1990s, Coava in a North Portland garage in 2008 where the founder fixed motorcycles to keep it going, Backporch on a popcorn popper on a back porch. Sleepy Monk has roasted organic coffee in Cannon Beach for decades and sells through wholesale partners along the coast. None of these was a sure thing. They lasted because Oregonians bought the coffee, month after month.
Portland Coffee Roasters, founded in 1996, counts among the city's oldest roasters. Wandering Goat has roasted in Eugene since 2004. Longevity in this trade is a record of local customers.
How the club fits in
Multnomah Coffee Club sends a 12 oz bag from a different independent Oregon roaster in every box, roasted to order and shipped in the roaster's own bag with our packing slip: the roaster, their shop and what to taste for. Each roaster is paid for the coffee they roast, and each box introduces you to one you might not have found on your own.
The roasters shown on this site are listed because we like them, not as partners. When a bag wins you over, buy the next one from the roaster directly.
Start with the roasters near you
Every Oregon roaster we follow has its own page: story, coffees, cafes and address. Portland, Bend, Eugene, Hillsboro, Newberg, Ashland, Sisters and Cannon Beach are all on the Oregon roasters list.