Portland Coffee Roasters Is Easy to Find: Just Look for the Name on a Bright Yellow Sign Overlooking Sandy Boulevard.

Once inside, the environment is calming.

Portland Coffee Roasters (Chris Nesseth)
By Michael C. Zusman

Portland Coffee Roasters

815 SE Oak St., Suite B, 503-334-4685, portlandcoffeeroasters.com. 6 am-4 pm Monday-Friday, 7 am-3 pm Saturday-Sunday.

This cafe and roastery is easy to find: Just look for the name on a bright yellow sign overlooking Sandy Boulevard as it diagonals between Southeast Washington and East Burnside streets. Once inside, the environment is calming. Low-slung round tables, standard two-tops, and stools are set up throughout the moderately sized space amid a scattering of greenery and a partition at one end engineered from slender tree trunks. Bags of the house brand are perched for sale on an L-shaped counter where you order and pick up your drink as well as on shelves in the back of the room near the tree trunks. There are many varieties to buy, all in bags of the same signature yellow as the street sign. The espresso of the day when I visited was called St. Johns, a light roast of fairly nondescript flavor, though the bag insisted “milk chocolate and citrus” were its calling cards. Alas, the alluring aroma of roasting beans is absent, as the roastery has moved next door. This may not be a spot for hardcore beanhounds, but it is a pleasant enough respite for a small group meeting or chat with friends.

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