Employee Vien Dobui with Kathleen and Will Pratt, Owners of Tandem Coffee Co., 122 Anderson Street

Tandem Coffee Co. at 122 Anderson Street, East Bayside. Open every day but Sunday.

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 1,211)

“It feels very up and coming down here.  We love the feel here,” said Kathleen Pratt of the new wholesald coffee business Tandem Coffee Co.  She and her husband, Will, started the business almost a month ago in the East Bayside section of Portland and they are very positive about the future of their business.

The Pratts moved to the Hill earlier this year from Brooklyn, NY.  Kathleen was sent there by her former employer, Blue Bottle Coffee Co. to start up the company’s first coffee business on the East Coast.  It’s a well established network of coffee shops in San Francisco where the couple had lived previously.  She said:  I had to do all the permitting, hiring and purchasing of small equipment.  Because of this experience, it gave me the confidence to try it on my own.”

Just about a month ago, the couple started up the Tandem Coffee Co. in a former office for a former scrap yard.  The exterior is red brick and the inside is white.  There is an appealing coffee bar where customers can buy from three types of espresso coffee and a decaf; all of which are roasted on site by Will.  He also did all the carpentry work as well.  “I love roasting coffee.  It’s a challenge attempting to bring the best out of every coffee we roast,” he said last week on a bright summer day.  Will learned a lot of what he knows from the Boot Coffee Consulting Co., Marin County, CA.   Working with them in this start-up business is Vien Dobul, a former employee of the Blue Bottle Coffee Co. as well.

An extremely popular network of coffee shops in California, the original coffee beans having been found in Vienna and brought there by the Turks who invaded them in 1683.  A Franz G eorge Kolshitsky knew what these otherwise strange beens were and ground them into coffee.  He then opened Central Europe’s first coffee house (The Blue Bottle) and introduced Vienna to coffee.  The Pratts story of bring Tandem Coffee Co. to Portland may not be as dramatic, but mhn.com bets that Portlanders will be very happy about it.

The shop is open every day but Sunday.  Monday – Friday it’s open 7 am – 2 pm and on Saturday 8 am – 3 pm.  Check it out.  It’s a friendly place to be!