Few things say “Portland” like a coffee shop, and few things say “coffee shop” like Schondecken Coffee Roasters, (503236-8234, 6720 SE 16th Ave, Portland, OR 97202), located in a small house across the street from the Sellwood Post Office.
When you walk through the door the first thing you notice is the smell-a heady aroma of coffee, teas, and spices. The next thing you notice is the inviting creak of the rough hardwood floors, which squeak like real, honest-to-God hardwood floors are supposed to. Sight is only the third sense you’ll use but as your eyes adjust to the dimness, if you look past the Rube Goldberg coffee roaster and behind the coffee-bean-stuffed counter you’ll see the smiling face of Nancy Duncan where she’s been for almost 15 years.
“It will be 15 years exactly on February 1st“, said Nancy. “I had been working as a pharmacy technician for many years until the pharmacy was bought by Rite Aid. Just about the time of the sale, the people who owned this shop asked if my husband and I wanted to take it over. They had opened the shop in the 1980’s to roast coffee for their restaurant (which is now Cha Cha Cha on Bybee) and wanted to split it off. It was perfect timing, and I made the jump to the world of coffee.” Nancy worked with them for a couple weekends to learn the basics then worked with one of their employees for about a month for practice, and she was on her own. The roaster itself is truly a thing to behold. A great metal contraption looming in the corner of the shop, “it’s been here since the building was just a roaster, before we opened it to the public. It was hand-built by Michael Sivetz in Corvallis, who builds roasters for companies around the world.”
Her new business was also her introduction to Tom Dwyer Automotive. “I was looking for a mechanic at the time, and happened to hear some of my customers talking about auto repair. I asked them who’d they recommend, and they immediately said ‘Tom Dwyer Automotive’! I’ve been a happy client ever since. That was a long time ago, when Tom used to come in the shop and drop a rock in the tip jar.” A… rock? “Not just a regular rock!” laughed Nancy. “One of the rocks from his collection in the cases there at the shop. He’d bring special polished stones of some type, and it was always really nice.”
Nancy’s certainly learned the ins and outs of the business since those early days, and was able to tell us all about all about the art of coffee. “Coffee is a lot like wine,” she said. “It’s a crop product, which means that the beans vary by the weather they were grown in, the soil of their plantation, and the way the beans are stored. Moisture content varies by bag, and even within the same bag.” Of course, the beans are only part of the equation. Just as a winemaker can make or break a batch of grapes, the knowledge and artistic touch of the coffee roaster is as important to a good cup of java as the beans used to make it. Nancy told us that “Harder beans make darker roasts. I look to Mexican beans for a light, nutty flavor, and French or Italian for the darker, smokier flavors.” Roasting requires a close eye when the beans are almost done, because a batch can flip from perfect to burned in less than a minute. “Many people think that the darker the roast, the more caffeine the coffee has. It’s actually just the opposite. Roasting burns out the caffeine, so the lighter roasts have more.”
Tastes for coffee, again like wine, vary by season with lighter roasts (white wines) popular in the summer and darker roasts (red wines) popular in winter. Nancy’s personal favorites? “I really like the dark French and Italian coffees. One of my particular favorites is Recluse, which is a blend of French and Sumatran.” Schondecken has developed several blends of their own, including some with names that recall the Sellwood/Westmoreland area where the blend was born like “Moreland After” and “Best Moreland”.
But coffee is not just an art, it’s a business. Schondecken sells more than just coffee; they have an impressive array of bulk spices and loose-leaf teas. That amazing roaster helps set them apart from the other coffee shops in the area as well. “There are a LOT of coffee shops in the area, but only a couple roast their own beans on-site.” Inviting as the shop is, though, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. “The bulk of our business comes from mail-order, restaurants, and coffee carts.” The clientele of the coffee world is changing too, a development Nancy welcomes but is a little ambivalent about. “Everyone’s drinking more coffee these days (Look at the bottom of this article for the great graphic Nancy gave us on the density of coffee houses across the country) and I see much younger people drinking coffee these days, some as young as 10 to 12 years old. But I think it’s a good thing in some ways. Coffee shops provide a place for those in-between ages to meet and have something to do. In our little area here, there’s our shop as well as a yogurt shop and a couple other places that kids can go. It’s nice to be part of filling that niche for young people.”
Sitting in Portland, at the epicenter of the coffee revolution, Nancy sees more changes coming for the coffee world in the future. But, whatever changes the industry goes through over the next few years, you can rely on Schondecken’s to provide a hot cup of Joe in the cozy, comfortable environment it needs to make it perfect.
