Undoubtedly Portland is a bike town. We’re learning how much so with two recent deaths and at least three high profile bike accidents this fall. This writer even experienced some misfortune of his own in an October bike commute. I consider my first hand encounter with traffic to be valuable lesson.
That said, biking in Portland is a cultural force. In 2005 3.5% of Portlanders biked to work. More recent data from the City of Portland indicated that now 5% of the downtown working population commutes to work via bike. Even the biking subculture has sub-subcultures. It’s beyond nerds, jocks and stoners of high school, although the road racers, cyclocrossers, tri-athletes, mountain bikers, commuting professionals and the fixies could probably give even the high school pecking order a run for its money.
Enter Joel Domreis, part bike messenger, part baristo. As Courier Coffee, Joel roasts small batches of beans and hand delivers them to his retail and residential accounts, by bike. Here’s the rub, it’s good. That’s coming from someone who was an “I-only-drink-Italian-roasted-organic-shade-grown-fair-trade-Guatemalan--independent-local-retailer-coffee” snob, making my purchases from the good folks at Hawthorne Coffee. My previous job perched me in The Gadsby building at 13th and Hoyt, the same building as the Acorn Café (539 NW 13th). Acorn began using Joel’s coffee early this year and I was sold.
When my new office was signing up for coffee service, coworker Matt Reed (also a former Acorn regular) and I lobbied heavily to engage Joel as our provider of in-office coffee. The powers that be acquiesced and you can kiss that burned, freeze-dried, stale, 3 hours-on-the-burner coffee good-bye.
Whenever I’ve seen Joel, he’s a poster child for mass caffeine consumption. The glint in his eye and 90 word per minute conversational style, shows that he enjoys his product too (maybe a little too much). Give him have the chance and he’ll bend your ear on everything from picking up single lot 172 lb bags of green coffee beans at the Port of Portland in a friend’s borrowed car, to where to get the best deal on a Italian-made coffee brewer, without, god-forbid, a burner.
Joel delivers the result of his roasting efforts on a flat-bed cargo bike from Center for Appropriate Transportation, on which he can fit up to 200 pounds of deliveries to card around town.
Inspired by a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, Joel’s delivery by bike didn’t start out as a carbon-free delivery service. “I used to drive, you know, when it was crappy out and stuff.” Joel gave up the car, rather the car gave up him, and he renamed his business Courier Coffee. “With a name like Courier Coffee, I kind of have to ride," acknowledges Domreis.
Joel is up early roasting on Sundays before he begins deliveries to his handful of office and restaurant accounts at 4am Monday morning. Joel's other restaurant accounts include Olea, Half and Half, 923 SW Oak and Nutshell, 3808 N Williams (on the bike route). Try his coffee at one of the aforementioned restaurants or talk to your office manager and give him a spin. Courier Coffee $15/lb, delivered.
Contact Joel Domreis at 503 545-6444