Kobos Coffee (Part 1) – Helping write PDX coffee history

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[Note: This is part one of a two-part article. You can find part two here]

If you were to write a history of the Portland coffee scene, the story would not be complete without a visit to Kobos Coffee. Founded in 1973 by David and Susan Kobos, Kobos Coffee was one of the first companies in the area to roast its own coffee, and has since grown into one of the largest coffee roasters in Portland.

Without knowing any of the company’s history, the first time I went to Kobos, I was surprised to walk into the company’s Vaughn Street café and be surrounded by what looked like the kitchen department at Macy’s. In addition to lots of coffee paraphernalia and an espresso bar, there was lots of brightly-lit and brightly-colored kitchen gadgetry, including dishes, linens and other housewares.

Inside the store at Kobos' Vaughn St. Café

I wanted to find out what the story was, so after “meeting” Kobos’ Kevin Dibble in Twitterspace, we arranged a time to meet and talk about the company’s operations. When I arrived at the store, Kevin, who is also one of Kobos’ roasters, greeted me and took me back to the offices. He introduced me to Brian Dibble, his father and co-owner of Kobos. Together, they led me through the roasting plant and told me about the company’s operations.

Our first stop on the tour was the coffee warehouse. It was spacious, with pallets piled up with large burlap sacks full of green coffee beans. Brian said that there were about twenty different origins and varieties represented in the warehouse. He said that Kobos roasts about 40,000 pounds of coffee each month. That’s a lot of coffee, and it goes to a lot of different places.

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PDX Animal Art

Here are three examples of some animal art seen recently around PDX while looking for some coffee.

Does anyone besides me find this first one a little creepy? I don't know if it's the color of the owls or the manner in which they seem to be confronting the crow, but the whole scene is unsettling.

Have you seen Hitchcock's The Birds?

This toro was seen outside a Taquería on E. Burnside. 

Ferdinand, perhaps?Anyone a fan of George Orwell's Animal Farm? These were the pigs that were 'less equal than the others.' They eventually left the farm to go look for fortune elsewhere. They found it on NW 23rd (I don't really know that, but it makes a good story).

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Coffee Links (with commentary) for May 20, 2011

Another day, a few links, and lots of coffee. If you’re in Portland today, enjoy the sun!

From the newly created bad puns department, Starbucks fans will soon be going gaga over. . . . . Gaga. link

In last week’s links, I wrote that Seattle’s Best claimed it could now be found in 50,000 locations. Not for long. link

An Australian tourist visits Portland to see if the city really lives up to its Portlandia reputation. He (or she?) visits a few coffee shops and especially likes Heart and Public Domain (must have a thing for modernist décor). link

For coffee techies and espresso nerds, David Schomer has a great new post on his blog about the science of grinding beans. It’s titled “Micro-particle Migration in Conical Grinding Systems” (some people really get into their coffee). link

It appears that drinking coffee significantly reduces the risk of prostate cancer by 60%. link

Having just finished reading Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences, I am a little skeptical. The relationship between coffee and cancer might be a correlation, not a causation. link

Might the next roasting industry in Portland be chocolate instead of coffee? Not for a while, but maybe someday. link

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters is optimistic about future growth, according to an article published in Portland Business Journal. link

Consolidation in the coffee industry: Smuckers buys Rowland Coffee for $360 million. link

In other industry consolidation news (and what may be a sign for the impending rapture tomorrow), Starbucks is in talks to buy Stumptown Coffee in order to help the coffee giant set up a new “Specialty Coffee” division. An unnamed executive at the coffee giant was quoted as saying that “our coffee quality has been sliding and we need to get back to our coffee roots. With its exquisitely-roasted coffee and nationwide name recognition, Stumptown seemed like the perfect partner for us.”  (if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge for sale that you might be interested in. link)

Note: there is no truth to the last one. None whatsoever. There’s not even a rumor. Just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. Have a great weekend!

Sweet and spicy

This weather, in the present-day vernacular, is getting “ridiculous.” It’s May. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of the cold. So far this year, we’ve been teased with the occasional nice day, but our expectant hearts are then dashed to the ground by the next untimely cold front. It’s time for some heat.

Speaking of heat, that’s what I found today when I tried a “Toddy Diablo.”

The time: 3:00pm.

The place: First Cup, on Woodstock.

If you were to have a “throw down” between the coffee shops on Woodstock, First Cup would probably win. The shop is pretty small, so it gets a little cramped sometimes. It is a place for Reedies to hang out and there are often lots of students coming in and out. The atmosphere is welcoming, if you can find a seat. They serve Stumptown coffee, with Hair Bender available every day as one of the two brewed coffees and also as the espresso.

Since summer is supposedly approaching, cafés are pulling out their warm-weather drinks more these days, including cold-brewed coffee. Today, First Cup was advertising a “Toddy Diablo,” a “cold-pressed coffee with a house-made chile syrup” (toddy is the term for cold-brewed coffee that cool Portland cafés use—there’s no whisky in it). A couple months ago, I tried my first cold-brew coffee at Case Study. That was a memorable first time, and I have been a fan of the cold brew ever since.

I asked the barista what she thought of the Diablo. A sly grin came to her face when she told me, as if it were a secret between us, that the drink was really good. Devilishly good, perhaps?

She described it as spicy, not like habanero peppers, but more of a smoky, slow burn. Would I like to try it?

Yes, please.

The first sip of the drink was revealing—not quite like I expected. Instead of raw heat, the coffee had a hint of sweetness. Sweet and then hot. The barista later told me that the sugar gives the spice something to hold onto and is better than using only pepper in the syrup. As you swallow, the pepper warms your mouth, with the heat slowly moving to the back of your throat and downward, until you feel a slow simmering in your chest. The aftertaste is a touch smoky, like smoldering wood chips. It reminds you of drinking coffee prepared over a campfire.

Like my first iced coffee, the Diablo was another memorable first time. It’s not something you would drink every day, but for those days when you are looking for something different, when you need something to spice up your coffee palate and shake off the erratic Portland spring weather, try the Diablo at First Cup. If you dare.

Xpression Coffeehouse - jazz and java

The other day, I went searching for a different café in Southwest Portland. I had a couple hours to kill before I picked my daughter up at preschool, and although there are a couple cafés fairly close to the school, I have not been overly excited by either of them. I knew there was another coffee shop in the area I wanted to try out, so I went looking for it. It wasn’t easy to find, though, and I was about to give up when I glanced over and saw the sign for Xpression Coffeehouse to my right.  It turned out to be a nice discovery.

As I entered the café, the first thing I noticed was that it felt very welcoming. Soft jazz music was playing and a strong scent of coffee filled the air. The barista greeted me as I came up to the counter. She was working on a drink for the person in front of me and said she would be right with me. I waited, listening to the music that was playing, reading the information screen located behind the register. I was surprised to read that the music was original and composed specifically for the café.

“That’s one way to get around the music-industrial complex,” I thought, recalling an article I had recently read discussing coffee shops and music copyright issues.

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A sweet deal

I hope you were able to take advantage of Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day today, but if you weren’t, I have another deal to let you know about. It’s not an offer from me—I’m just passing along the information.

I have mentioned before that world coffee prices are going up—way up. As of today, green coffee prices are up over 100% from a year ago. In other words, prices have more than doubled in that time. The big coffee companies, like Starbucks and Folgers, have raised their prices several times in the last year. Many of the local roasters have raised their roasted bean prices too. Some have shifted from selling 16oz bags to selling 12oz bags for the same price, instantly raising the price per pound by 33% (some are even selling half-pound bags for nearly the same price!).

Therefore, I was surprised today when I stopped in at the Spunky Monkey café (that’s right, the super funky Spunky Monkey) and found that they were selling organic and fair trade coffees (which generally cost more to begin with) for $11 per pound. I haven’t seen full 1-lb bags of coffee in other local shops for a couple months, certainly not for $11.

There were three coffees available, all roasted yesterday: a fair trade/organic coffee from Peru, a fair trade/organic from Ethiopia (Sidama) and an organic coffee from Brazil. At this price, the coffees are as good a deal as you will find from a local roaster.

When I asked the owner how he could offer such a deal, he admitted he was probably going to have to raise prices soon. So if you are looking for a great deal on some local fresh-roasted coffee, you should stop in at the Spunky Monkey to get some before he does. 

Not sure how long this will last

Who says the sun doesn't shine in PDX?

You know it’s been a gray spring when the sun comes out one day and it makes the front page of the newspaper with the headline “Scary Yellow Globe in Sky Not Going to Stick Around” (as if we expected it to). Yes, it’s been a bit dreary around here. According to the National Weather Service, before last Friday (April 8^th), it had been 41 days since our last cloud-free day. The graph below, from The Oregonian, accompanied the story.

Looks like Portlanders are in serious need of some vitamin D

You can see that we haven’t seen the sun much since February 25^th, and that any sun we did have was only fleeting. Hopefully, Friday was a sign of good things to come and summer is just around the corner!

A good omen?