New Roaster (with deep Brazilian Roots) in The Pearl District Looking to Open First Retail Location
Brazilian Espresso Bar – NW 13th – Launches Crowdsourcing campaign on Kickstarter (ends Oct. 8)
Since 2005, Augusto Carneiro has sold his family’s premium Brazilian coffee only to wholesale clients – area businesses and grocery stores in Portland, Oregon. His company, Nossa Familia Coffee, is dedicated to sustainability in every aspect of the business. The farm has always grown coffee in a traditional style that is eminently sustainable, as evidenced by its 120-year history. The coffee is direct-traded, offering farmers premium prices for their efforts. The beans are roasted in the high-efficiency Loring roaster, the only one of its kind in Portland. Now, Augusto is looking to offer this experience directly to retail coffee consumers by opening a Brazilian espresso bar right at the roastery in the heart of The Pearl District. To raise funds, he has launched a kickstarter (a crowdfunding website) campaign to raise the final $15,000 needed to roll out the retail location.
What makes Nossa Familia’s story different? Most craft roasters begin with a small roaster and small batches of beans which they roast and sell at their cafe. As they sell more coffee, they purchase more beans, until eventually they can travel to a coffee farm, meet the farmers and buy direct. Nossa Familia Coffee began at the farm with its rich history and premium, sustainably grown beans and has built a thriving wholesale business from there.
The company has its roots in Brazil and they go deep. Brought to Portland from the owner’s family farm in the Mogiana Region of Brazil, Nossa Familia coffee hails from coffee plants that were planted as far back as 1890. When Augusto moved to Portland, he studied mechanical engineering. He quickly realized that Portland’s refined palate would appreciate his family’s coffee and Nossa Familia was launched in 2005. What makes Nossa Familia so unusual is that it is farm direct – so direct that the owner takes visitors to stay with his family on the farm, pick ripe coffee beans and meet farm workers and their families.
Nossa Familia Coffee sources its coffee from at least two of the family’s farms: Fazenda Cacheoira and Fazenda Racherio. Both have been in the family for five generations. What are now called ‘sustainable business practices’ in the coffee industry have been these farms’ traditional practices for over a century. For example, the family uses husks removed at harvesting to power processing equipment and as fertilizer. By self-generating power from harvest byproducts and waterfall-driven generators, they can stay almost entirely off the power grid. To maintain ecological balance, they set aside untouched habitat areas and have planted thousands of native species.
Augusto has always wanted to share his passion for the complex world of coffee with the public and the retail location will be the last piece of that puzzle. The campaign is about halfway to its goal, but is looking for a little more support to make that dream a reality.