Our Mission
To forge positive human connections and build a socially responsible business through great coffee.
From the beginning, Portland Coffee Roasters has been committed to creating strong and lasting relationships in the international coffee community. We continuously strive to be a business rooted in relationships, with an eye towards global betterment.
“The beauty and uniqueness of every coffee we buy continually fuels my curiosity about how to maintain quality and sustainability, including caring for the land and the people who work in coffee-growing regions.”
Mark Stell, Founder and CEO
OUR HISTORY
Since our founding in 1996, Portland Coffee Roasters has sourced coffee directly from farmers, while building sustainable relationships with them and the communities they support. For nearly 30 years, we’ve worked to create lasting connections extending from our local community to our coffee farmers. These connections are the heart of our business – allowing us to focus beyond coffee and improve both people and planet.
Starting with our first direct trade shipment from La Hilda Estate in Costa Rica, and our first project in 1999 with Finca El Paternal in Guatemala – it was clear that our customers valued the connection between our coffee farming communities and what's in their morning cup. Since then, we’ve continued to invest in our relationships, learning firsthand from our coffee producers about their needs and partnering together to make improvements.
These long-standing relationships have laid a foundation that continues to support our projects at origin and beyond to this day.
Core Values
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Come As You Are
From our cafes to our roasting facility, it’s important to us that everyone feels welcome. Whether someone’s new to the bean scene, or a world barista champ – we have a seat for them at our table, and coffee they will love.
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Rooted in Relationships
Improving the lives of the people we work with is not a one-size-fits-all solution. We aim to listen to the individual needs of our partners at every level, and work together to build strong, sustainable relationships.
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Continuous Improvement
Whether it be sustainability initiatives, coffee expertise, product development, and more – we prioritize progress over perfection. We’re always looking for ways to learn, grow, and evolve our business.
We're always looking for great people to support our vision