Northbound Coffee Roasters

l say here what I have been saying to anyone who will listen ever since I had my first cup of Northbound Coffee 5 years ago:

This is the BEST coffee on earth. Their roasts are very distinct across all their varietals and blends. There is a soft, creamy nuttiness that comes through consistently in each unique batch that I have tried. I could easily pick out a NB coffee blindfolded.

My personal favorite is Tiger Rose. It was my first love, and the one that DIDN'T get away. I just received yet another 2lb bag. Currently, I toggle between Tiger Rose and Java (Kayumas Taman Dadar).

I also appreciate NB's committment to organic quality, environmental ethics, and their reliable high standard customer service.

TRY IT. NOW!

I go through about 2lbs of SpoonBender every week, it is the best dark roast ever roasted. Dark roast is not well understood, it is always on the edge of being ruined. Over roasted? Ruined. Brewed too hot? Ruined. Not fresh? You guessed it, rancid. If your dark roast tastes like bitter ashtray something is wrong. You should not wince when you taste it.
Now that I have established my bona fides We can continue. SpoonBender should be fresh, if the grocery store is your only option its ok but fresher is better, check the roast date in all the bags. Brew the coffee at 197F. You can play +\- ~3 degrees but 197 is pretty perfect. Your autodrip brewer might just be too hot, 200-205. My weapon of choice is the clever dripper, the aero press makes a better cup but its too small and has too many parts to clean. A french press would be good too. Pour over is over rated, but I digress.
I believe at this point I have tried every blend North Bound offers, many of the headstash line, and subscribed to the spring tour 2 years in a row. Their light roasts are phenomenal, I am not a big light roast drinker but I do enjoy trying them regularly to see what interesting fruity flavors I find.
I could go on and on... so I will. I have subscribed to at least 3 coffee subscriptions, so I tasted A LOT of coffee and NorthBound is my favorite. Good folks too, always resolve my problems and entertain my questions. Their tasting notes are spot in as well, not the usual pretentious BS.
So anyway, try it, but don’t tell anyone else, I don’t want them to get too popular.

Their coffee is exquisite, very good mild taste. It is better than Folgers, witch I love. A little on the spendy side but too worth it.

Running ahead of a snow storm on a Portland to San Francisco run, we crossed the pass at night and dropped into Dunsmuir, a town of water, a restaurant gas station, and a storefront hotel. Waking to snow swirled streets, we wandered downhill to a breakfast all day cafe filled with board games and the aroma of the best coffee we've ever had. The deep richness of Northbound's Prana enveloped and energized us for the next leg of our trip. Inspired, we purchased a bag and now back East we are Coffee Club members. The people who work there are interesting and interested and the support and advice we have received has been warm and friendly. We have tried a number of their other roasts and they are all excellent. Pick one, you can't go wrong.

Northbound has coffee beans for many tastes and uses. The Ethiopian Bokassa and Yirgacheffe are excellent single origin for both drip and espresso. The Guatemalan single origin is also great as both. The other cool thing they do are a couple espresso blends called Tiger Rose and American Beauty. Both pull a great shot and I like them for cappuccinos. Look out for the Fall and Spring tour coffees that are usually a single origin roasted to three different temps to up the complexity. I buy beans for many sources and can say Northbound holds their own with Wrecking Ball, Saint Frank, Intelligensia, Flying Goat, and the whole Portland crowd. I end up drinking about 75% Northbound due to quality, variety, price and being organic.

These people are very nice. This is their roasting location. They roast small batches off coffee on some cool vintage roasting equipment. Their facility was very clean and orderly. I was a little sad to find out that this location does to make coffee drinks but It is still very worth stopping for a visit. The employee who was there showed us around and chatted for a while. I got some espresso beans while I was there. Looking forward to trying them. :)

Picked up a bag of their "Mainline" house blend when I was down in Ashland recently. This is good coffee. For the last year or two I've been sampling a few dozen roasters from around the Pacific Northwest, and this is one of the best, along with Stumptown, Coava, and a Peet's Reserve blend I also got down in Ashland. I've only prepared it with a ceramic filtercone and medium grind (conical burr grinder, of course). It's so smooth, chocolatey, and not bitter, and I don't even love chocolate, but I love this. It doesn't seem available up here in Portland, that I know of (not that we're short on good coffee roasters).

For quite some time this has been the only whole bean coffee we stock in our home. The coffee is expertly and ethically sourced, always freshly roasted and delivered expediously. Congratulations, you're happening upon one of the best discoveries of your life.

I love that the coffee I buy and prepare daily is roasted right down the road from where I live! This is the only coffee we buy and every blend is incredible. If you can try the campfire blend that's my favorite :)

Just a shout-out to these guys--artisan coffee from folks that know their craft, care about their product, and go the extra mile to insure quailty and satisfaction. I stopped by the "office" or roasting facility and Kieth bagged me up some freshly roasted American Beauty--outstanding. I also got the 5 minute tour and a little jaw-boning to see what, why, and how they do what they do--loved it.