Ristretto Roasters Blog

The Daily Grind

If you're interested in the booming home roasting business in Portland, you might want to read this Willamette Week piece on that subject. Ristretto Roasters owner Din Johnson is featured there, too.

Din Johnson, 38, recently took his tinkerer's curiosity public, opening Ristretto Roasters this past September in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood with his wife, Nancy Rommelmann (a former WW freelancer). "I've used every kind of gizmo out there," he says, "from stovetop skillets to modified popcorn poppers to purpose-built sample roasters." His experience mirrors that of Domreis, that hand-cranking home roaster who began roasting with a "Pie-Iron" he bought at Andy and Bax. And like Quitslund, Johnson likens coffee to wine in its complexities, subtleties, and allure. He also stresses the importance of getting the roast timing right: "Five, eight seconds can make a huge difference."

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!