Portland Coffee Roasters: A Pleasant, Play-It-Safe Start
In October 2026 I stopped by Portland Coffee Roasters and ordered a Cortado.
815 SE Oak St, Portland, OR 97214
They only had their St. Johns roast available for it. It seemed very standard — pleasant to drink, but it didn’t stand out as special or above average.
The room
To me, the location is modern and clean in appearance, with a decent amount of hangout space. It seems to me like they are playing it safe and trying to be similar to other larger chains. Overall, I thought it was very nice.
The Cortado
The Cortado itself was pleasant, just not memorable. For me, that’s not a bad first stop — it sets a useful baseline for me for comparing the espresso at the next roasters. A standard, well-made drink is a fair place for me to start a tour like this.
The breakfast sandwich
I also ordered their bacon breakfast sandwich. It was tasty, but small — if I was a teenage boy, I would be disappointed. But I enjoyed it.
Beans to take home
I saw that they had an Ethiopian coffee I would purchase for home. Given that Ethiopian beans tend to be my favorite, that’s a promising note to end on — even if this visit’s Cortado, made with the St. Johns roast, stayed firmly in pleasant-and-standard territory for me.
This is roaster one on the list. More to come.