Ristretto Roasters Blog

"The Most Delicious Coffee in the Free World"

Following Cathy Seipp's roast last month in Los Angeles, a few of us headed over to Matt Welch and Emmanuelle Richard's backyard. The funniest person there was Andrew Breitbart, whom I'd met previously as his book party and various social events, but who I'd never actually sat and chatted with. He told many stories, most of which necessitated he stand up and do the voices and mannerisms of all the characters, a method close to my heart. Here, I think he's telling the story of how he got to third base with a girl he did not know after sneaking up to the front row of a concert in Orange County in the mid-80s, when he was something like sixteen. Between Matt and myself, we cannot remember which concert it was--Matt is leaning toward the Untouchables, but I say, that's way too hip; it was more a big arena draw, Springfield or Prince or REM.

Later, the talk turned to what I'd been doing since leaving Los Angeles. When I said something about Ristretto, Andrew sprung out of his chair like a Jack-in-the-Box.

"Coffee?! Coffee?! I drink a hundred tons of coffee a day!" he said. I told him, I could help, and sent down a few half-pounds a week or so ago.

This is the email I just got back.

Belated thanks for the most delicious coffee in the free world... As of today we are on a full Ristretto coffee diet and we're bouncing off the walls. We'd like to set up a system to send coffee to our house. We can't thank you enough for following through on your promise to send me God's finest product.

Thanks, Andrew! Anyone else: We can do the same for you. Shoot me an email at [email protected], and tell me how much you want and how often.

Photo by Jackie Danicki

Ristretto Roasters and Nuvrei Bakery Collide

This Sunday, September 17, Ristretto Roasters turns one. It’s been a fantastic year; the customers are great, the neighbors gracious, and everyone says, we’re roasting the best coffee in Portland. Really, there’s been only one teeny-weeny problem…

“You need to stop baking.” This, from Din Johnson, owner of and roaster for Ristretto Roasters, to Nancy Rommelmann, his wife, a.k.a., yours truly.

What, did he no longer like the chocolate chip cookies? Had he tired of the blueberry-bran muffins? And what about his mother’s pecan balls, which I lovingly made each week…

“Relax, geez, it’s not the baking,” he said. “But you’re writing all day, I’m roasting, and at night, we can’t even watch a DVD without you jumping off the couch and saying, ‘I’ve got to check the scones.’”

Well…

“And that was the plan, right? That we’d phase in a new baker?”

Right… sniff…

“Baby,” he said. “It’s going to be okay.”

More than okay, as I’ve passed the spatula to Marius Pop, owner of and baker for Nuvrei. When we first met Marius, we knew instantly he was as passionate and meticulous about pastry as Din is about coffee, and that an alliance would make each man’s work exponentially greater. We visited Nuvrei’s kitchen in The Pearl, and tried the raspberry scones; the ham-and-Emmental croissants; the jewel-tone macaroons, the blueberry-cornbread loaf-cake that tastes of butter, butter and more butter… Sold!

Marius, formerly of Payard Patisserie, David Bouley, and Daniel (all in New York City), and Paley’s Place, currently sells his work from a kiosk on the corner of NW 10^th and Flanders, as well as in Mio Gelato, Moonstruck Café, Vino Paradiso and a dozen other places around town. His cakes also appear at forty billion weddings. When I asked him to sum up what he does—aside from turn out the best French pastry in Portland—he wrote:

In a nutshell: Nuvrei focuses on combining flavors that merge together with texture to create exquisite sweets. We do this for the energy, for the excitement of creating something beautifully… because we want to create a world of our own, where talent meets synergy and the two collide together into something amazing and great.

Stop by Ristretto for an exquisite Americano and a slice of that blueberry cake or one of, ahem, my chocolate-chip cookies, which Marius has most gallantly agreed to bake in my stead.

Also visit us on Saturdays, at the Hollywood Farmers Market

The Baker, 1681, Job Adriaensz Berckheyde