Owner : Don Niemyer
Does ambiance count in coffee?
Don Niemyer, the man behind the bean.
Portland, OR— Readers of restaurant reviews usually look for three things: quality, service and ambiance. Those who seek out the classiest cuisine usually want the most elegant surroundings to add to their culinary experience.
Fortunately, coffee quaffers, however serious, seem to thrive in casual atmospheres. Don Niemyer has created — if somewhat unintentionally — a perfect lab for an experiment.
Does ambiance affect the pleasure one gets from a carefully brewed cup of Arabica?Niemyer calls himself a coffee fanatic. However, he adds, “I aspire to be a coffee connoisseur.”Niemyer says, “We’re constantly reading (about coffee) and going to events to talk to people who know more (about coffee) than we do.”
Two years ago, to pursue his goal, Niemyer and his wife, Carissa, purchased the Coffee Max at the Gateway Central MAX-station. The couple started putting their imprint on the coffee, expanding sales — and “having fun.”
In February 2010, with the help of business loans from MercyCorps Northwest and Albina Opportunities Corporation (AOC), the Niemyers bought Speedboat Coffee on S.E. Foster, just off Powell Blvd.With three and a half years of experience at Starbucks, Niemyer had learned a good deal about coffee, but he felt he had a lot more to learn.
Since then, Niemyer has been working out new techniques to brew an increasingly more elegant coffee. Speedboat Coffee’s cozy interior.
It should go without saying that a dedicated coffee brewer should work only with freshly ground coffee — as in ground right here and now! — for each latté or espresso. Moreover, Niemyer insists on varying the coarseness of the grind as the ambient temperature rises from early morning to mid-afternoon.
Here and there, Niemyer refined techniques for properly steaming milk for lattés.More importantly, he has been training his baristas to improve their skills.
“We’re really trying to have excellence in our coffee program,” Niemyer says.
Of course quality depends greatly on the selection of beans and roasting. Niemyer chose Stumptown Coffee Roasters for several reasons. First, Stumptown offers a wide variety of the world’s finest beans from small production growers. This allows the growers to hone their skills and get better prices even without having worldwide fame. Second, Stumptown follows a “direct trade” policy which, he says, results in a better price for the farmer. “Fair trade” procedures he says, “requires going through a certification process” that imposes extra cost and works against very small farmers.
Although Coffee Max and Speedboat Coffee prepare only one type of coffee per day, the variety will vary from time to time depending upon which coffee Stumptown is highlighting during any particular season. Thus, one might find beans from Costa Rica, Guatemala or Burundi in one’s cup on any given day.
Niemyer’s personal favorite comes from Ethiopia. He finds Ethiopian beans have the most “distinctive highlights.” Alas, due to Stumptown’s buying patterns, it is available only for limited periods.
The coffee at two sites at the ends of the spectrum
Although cups of Burundi made at Coffee Max and Speedboat Coffee taste the same, the ambiance could hardly be more different.
Located cheek by jowl with passing MAX trains — Blue Line (Gresham), Red Line (Airport) and Green Line (Clackamas) — Coffee Max has no indoor seating facilities. Riders pop by for a cup before or after a jaunt on the rails.
On the other hand, Speedboat Coffee offers a choice of drive-by service or a family-friendly cozy interior suitable for computer users (wi-fi service on premises).
The only common element is the coffee (and fresh pastries and sandwiches).
So does ambiance make a difference? Well, sort of.
- Ah, espresso!
There’s something to be said for sitting on a chair at a MAX station on a pleasant morning and watching the MAX light rail trains come and go, picking up and depositing travelers from next door — or halfway around the world.
On the other hand, there’s something to be said for sitting in a soft chair, sipping the café du jour and leisurely scanning your favorite newspaper.
A highly unscientific test suggested that the coffee tasted just as good at either location.
And, at either location, you’ll have some of the best coffee in Portland to lift your spirits.