Do you want a coffee to go with that?

Text: Silje Strømmen
Photos: Mari Oshaug

If you turn north where East Burnside Street meet Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Bulvard you will soon spot a renovated warehouse with a sign saying “Cup & Bar” hanging over the front door. For us, it was the impressive collection of bikes decorating the rear wall that lured us in. The smell of freshly ground coffee and dark chocolate made us stay. Their avocado toast made us fall in love.

Cup and Bar is the result of Portland’s bikedelivered coffee roaster, Trailhead Coffee Roasters, and Ranger Chocolate Company teaming up together. Under the slogan “craft roasted. Bike delivered”, Trailhead uses cargo bikes to transport their coffee to markets, cafes, offices and restaurants in Portland. After chatting with founder Charles Wicker, the company’s approach to delivery comes as no surprise.

“I can’t really imagine doing it any other way”, he tells us. Personally he doesn’t own a car, and he uses the backroom of the roastery to store several of his bikes (his own place is simply too small). Even though it was the bike racks that first got our attention, Charles insists that they are not curated or put up intentionally. “We just want the people who come in here and the people who work here to have somewhere to park their bikes. We are just trying to make it the way we would have wanted it”, he maintains.

There is no denying that his intentions are good. Using the cargo bike to spread the good word about their beans, many of whom come from woman-owned cooperatives throughout the coffee growing regions, is however not the only way coffee and bikes mix together at Trailhead. The “Brew Bike”, a combined bike and on-the-go coffee bar is everyone’s dream, and Charlie especially enjoys taking it places where you would not expect to get served a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Like in the middle of the woods or at a race. “I never get tired of the reaction “oh my god that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen”, he laughs.

The bike can brew 10 cups every 4 minutes and watching Charlie putting it together one can only be amazed. Everything has its place and he pours water, ground coffee, set up the drippers and measure the amount of coffee with precision.

And the taste? Nothing less of perfection.