From Stumptown to Seattle, With Foam

By Maggie Savarino Tue., Dec. 12 2006 at 11:15 AM

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Stumptown Coffee Roasters You know Vita, Vivace, Umbria, and Zoka,

Lighthouse, Fiore, Top Pot, and Victrola . . .

But in P-town, Stumptown is the leading coffee roaster, carried by many of the top restaurants and fellow coffee houses. The less-than-a-decade-old company has been a media darling of the coffee world, an example of the ethical-indie coffee scene, paying top dollar for everything from their beans to their baristas.

Stumptown plans to open a new cafe in our town, on 12th Avenue near Seattle University. Not so unusual, its founder Duane Sorenson is a Seattleite. The company has already started courting clients and will set up a local roaster. This is to go with their obsessive insistence that wholesale customers receive the freshest coffee possible, meaning they have said "no" to any coffee houses and retailers outside the PDX area until now.

Any Stumptown sitings at your local cafe? Start looking...

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Stumpted by Stumptown--go somewhere else for coffee/Internet/atmosphere. Its September 29th and I just got back from an attempt to buy a con panna and bag of beans at Stumptown on 12th. Although I love Vita and even Presse (next door), I was truly stumped at the surprisingly rude and \"you should feel entitled to let me wait on you\" attitude that prevailed. The cafe is ok, sure, and there is free Internet, which I guess is supposed to serve as a hook to get you in there so they can upsell you on their passable caffeinnated water and overpriced \"goodies.\" The bottom line is, if you are polite, white and/or male, you can expect a sneer/frown, a demand (over the blaring radio and numerous conversations) that you hide your phone before ordering, and lastly a confrontation that you can only avoid by simply walking out. Which is what I did, and what I recommend. Next time you are up by Seattle U or finishing a good dinner at Presse/Lark, take a PASS ON Stumptown and go for a nice walk up the street for a drink or espresso some place else. Anyone else have the same experience?
I agree, doesn\'t live up to the hype! I have lived and traveled the world including Italy and France, and I believe the best and most consistant, as well as friendly service, (and they ship all across the U.S. otherwise I pack it to go ;-) is the small micro roaster in Woodinville WA called Black Swan Coffee ...They have great online service and always answer all my questions promptly as I order a lot of it for birthdays and holidays as my friends and family are now hooked too! They are a true coffee lovers dream!
It was excellent coffee when we were in Portland a few weeks ago, and it will be the only place we visit for coffee while in Portland, but I don\'t think we\'ll be straying from our neighborhood favorites, Vivace & Victrola, too often to visit their new Seattle location. Don\'t get me wrong, the 15th Ave Victrola location has a couple of baristas that aren\'t always consistent and could be a little more friendly, but they are the first coffee shop I fell in love with and they are by far one of the best. Although the atmosphere isn\'t the most friendly, Vivace baristas more than make up for it with their excellent customer service and a consistent pour that is very hard to beat.
stumptown-rude service, too cool for school attitude, not consistant tasting... i used to work for them.
does anyone know where they sell stumptown in the los angeles area?
Great single origin coffee, good training program, but you can\'t live on that alone. Consistency is key - here today, gone tomorrow? Larger stores and more expansion = larger quantities of coffee (yes, that means stored green coffee - they all do it). Growth is a crazy thing. I am sure they can handle it, but for how long? They may also find that their little darling status isn\'t what they hoped for in Seattle. You can get away with that in P-town but Seattle has some tried & true loyalty to their own. Good luck Stumpy.
Ritual is roasting their own beans on Sorensen\'s original 1918 Probat, the oldest working Probat in the United States. serving Stumptown\'s Hair Bender. stumptown has other accounts outsid Oregon. Monterey, Ca, Los Angeles, Ca and definitely Seattle, WA. Hand sdown they have the best coffee in the US.
Stumptown certainly does ship their coffee by Fedex to some clients outside Portland. Ritual Coffee Roasters - notwithstanding the name - serves Stumptown beans in SF. They even brag about it: <a href="http://ritualroasters.com/about/about%20us.html" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://ritualroasters.com/about/about%20us.html" rel="nofollow">http://ritualroasters.com/about/about%20us.html</a></a> It\'s very good coffee, mind, but I don\'t think I\'ll go out of my way (which takes me past Zeitgeist) to frequent Stumptown.
smoove - Yes, Top Pot and Fiore roast. And according to the horse\'s mouth, Stumptown turns down anyone outside an hour of the roaster. If there are exceptions, it is with their party line. But I\'m guessing that rule is in flux up here right now, as they try to gain clients.
You might want to check a few of your facts. ZuKafe in Edmonds already serves Stumptown. www.zukafe.com Do Top Pot and Fiore \"roast\" their own coffee?
Wow...awesome. Stumptown was actually my first taste of Northwest coffee (had it on a road trip out several years ago before moving to Seattle). I\'ll always have a soft spot for it. Wonder if it\'s going in that massive mixed-use project on 12th & Madison?
aaarrghhh....presumably you mean \"stumptown sightings\" not \"sitings\"....
Have to say that I was very disappointed in the Stumptown hype...their drip is good, which makes it fine for restaurants but the latte - not sure how they got the reputation. Just my humble opinion but in matters of consistency and philosophy Caffe Umbria and Vivace are top. Where are they going? Near Lark or La Spiga\'s new digs?