Since their beginnings, Stumptown has searched the world for the best coffee available, pioneering the Direct Trade model of sourcing green coffee. Founder Duane Sorenson initiated this approach in 2003 when he began their foundational direct relationship with the Aguirre family of Finca El Injerto, whose coffees are, to this day, vital and beloved menu offerings.
Traveling the world to visit producers reminds them of the differences in every region and farm, and their approach to sourc
Since their beginnings, Stumptown has searched the world for the best coffee available, pioneering the Direct Trade model of sourcing green coffee. Founder Duane Sorenson initiated this approach in 2003 when he began their foundational direct relationship with the Aguirre family of Finca El Injerto, whose coffees are, to this day, vital and beloved menu offerings.
Traveling the world to visit producers reminds them of the differences in every region and farm, and their approach to sourcing and roasting aims to highlight and honor these distinctions. They hike through fields, stand among coffee drying decks, and sit down to share a meal and talk about the crop with producers. In 2019, 91 percent of all the coffees Stumptown purchased were from relationships where they have sourced coffee for three or more consecutive years.
Out of the hundreds of types or varieties in the coffee family tree, they’ve chosen roughly a dozen that they find truly special. They routinely pay producers well in excess of what they could receive on the commodity market, understanding that their coffee demands more work, from hand-picking each cherry at ideal ripeness to processing it with great attention to detail.
