Ristretto Roasters Blog

Order Ristretto Roasters online!

You can now order your hand roasted coffee from the Ristretto Roasters website! The inventory will change as the daily roasts do; after you've tasted your java, you can post your own customer comments under the specific beans you enjoyed. Comment early, comment often!

The e-commerce facility and fab new look for the site and this blog are all the handiwork of Ristretto owner Din Johnson's sister, Hillary Johnson. Well done, Hill!

Nancy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

One the bonuses of dropping into Ristretto Roasters is that Din and Nancy always have fresh, homemade baked goods on hand. As one who must have indulged in dozens of Nancy's chocolate chip cookies at this point, I can't tell you what a boon this is for Portland. They are, no doubt, the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. No lie.

If you want to try your hand at making Nancy's cookies yourself, go right ahead - she's sharing the recipe with Ristretto Roasters fans and anyone else who happens to stop by here. Read the whole thing, after the jump.

Slashfood says Ristretto knows its stuff

Here's another glowing customer review that the Ristretto team was very pleased to read, this time from Slashfood's Stefania Butler

...Ristretto Roasters focuses on what they want to be known for—great espresso (and coffee), and expertly roasted coffee beans. The other day I was in with my two girls having an afternoon cappuccino because they are perfect there and they don't that annoying Portland thing asking if I'd like it "wet" or "dry." There is a way a cappuccino should be made. They know it. Let's leave it at that.

Anyway, as I was just finishing up my coffee and debating on whether I should get another one for the road, the owner came up with a steaming hot cup of Ethiopian Harrar and said, "Try this. I just finished roasting the beans." In a word, the coffee was, "Pow!" I don't think I have had coffee made from beans that were roasted and then ground minutes before drinking. He served it up black (I like my coffee "regular"), but even so, it was full-bodied and very smooth, with a hint of sparkling-acidity. I then bought a pound of coffee to take with me and the bags were warm when they were handed to me.

I can tell you that the Ethiopian Harrar smells amaaaazing, too.

"Ristretto Roasters gets it right"

Customer Danielle Centoni reviews Ristretto Roasters at Oregon Live:

RISTRETTO ROASTERS IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Just north of the corner of NE42nd and Fremont is Beaumont Village's newest coffee cafe, Ristretto Roasters. Named for a hotly-debated style of coffee, I must say, Ristretto Roasters gets it right.

Ristretto Roasters is located in the space recently vacated by the Winterborne Restaurant. We've been stopping in for espresso macchiatos, cappuccinos and iced coffees and in a word, the coffee is: amazing. The beans are roasted perfectly for our taste, we like them well-roasted but smooth. The espressi remind us of being in Rome. The decor is hip but inviting. The staff are warm and welcoming to kids. Ristretto Roasters also has [free!] wifi so you can sit and hang out with your laptop. The cafe also features pastries from [Nancy Rommelman, Din's wife]. Check it out!

Ristretto Podcast #1: Nancy Explains It All

From my home in London, England, I called Ristretto Roasters owner Din Johnson's wife, Nancy Rommelmann, today in Portland, Oregon to talk about Ristretto: how it started, how Din roasts the coffee, where he sources the beans, and how great it is for him to be channelling his passion for roasting the perfect batch of coffee into a living. (Din was actually roasting the beans, which means no interruptions, not even for podcasts.) We talked for just over thirty minutes; for the coffee buffs interested in listening, all of the hardcore java-related content - including Nancy's outrage over a Starbuck's employee's contention that "Ethiopian coffee is just bitter" - comes at the beginning of the conversation.

Ristretto Podcast #1: Nancy Explains It All -  Download nancyristretto.mp3

Links to the people, blogs, companies, and articles mentioned in this podcast:

Skype, the voice-over-IP software that I used to call Nancy
Tafv, Nancy's daughter and Din's apprentice (pictured above, in black, with Nancy)
BumpStyle - the maternity wear business birthed in Ristretto Roasters
Engagement Alliance article on how bars and restaurants can thrive in the age of online socializing
The New Office Space - article about the use of cafés as office space for start-ups (via Susan Mernit)
The website for Joanne Jacobs's excellent book Our School, which tells how San Jose's Downtown College Prep used a back corner of Starbucks to start their charter school (right down to teacher interviews)
The Luke Ford Fan Blog, like which Nancy teased me this Ristretto Roasters fan blog would be. (The real Luke Ford is here.)

Ristretto in the Portland Tribune

Liz Colie Gadberry writes:

Owner Din Johnson roasts the beans himself in a vintage Probat roaster in the small Beaumont neighborhood space; often you’ll see him roasting if you stop in for coffee.

The coffee at Ristretto (which opened in September) is especially nice, flavorful and bold, yet very smooth. And, though coffee is the focus, the baked goods are dandy, too. I especially liked the wonderfully plain, dense and moist pound cake. For something supersweet, try a buttery pecan bar. Nancy Rommelmann (Johnson’s writer wife) bakes the treats.

Visit www.ristrettoroasters.com to learn about Johnson’s approach to coffee roasting.

Nancy responds at her blog:

As satisfying to me that Din is getting recognition for the amazing job he does with the coffee (man, you should try the Kenya AA Kahuro he roasted yesterday, a powerful, big-bodied, wine-like coffee with notes of plum and blackberry), and the lovely and alliterative moniker, "writer wife," is the fact that Gadberry got her facts and spelling as well as the tone of the shop just right. Thanks, Liz!

 

The first post

Din Johnson is the owner of Ristretto Roasters. I'm Jackie Danicki, a good friend of Nancy Rommelmann, Din's writer wife who makes all of the baked goods that Ristretto serves, and Hillary Johnson, Din's sister. (I've only actually met Din once, but we sure did paint Ye Rustic red...) Ristretto Roasters is Din's baby, and Nancy's too; Hillary and I are mere Ristretto cheerleaders. Now we're dragging the business into the blogosphere, with the support of the proud parents. Ristretto customers, coffee buffs, entrepreneur-watchers, and anyone else who's interested is more than welcome to come along for the ride.