There is no shortage of good coffee in Portland. How many of those companies are great? How many of the coffee-related businesses care as much about roasting and serving good coffee as they do about doing good in the community?
Nossa Familia (1319 NW Johnson St), is one such company, and we’re proud to have them as our exclusive coffee partner for the 2017 Oregon Brewery Running Series. As Oregon’s first B Corp Certified coffee roaster, their story is remarkable.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Nossa Familia’s founder, Augusto Carneiro, and learn about what makes them one of Portland’s more respected coffee roasters. Nossa has been our coffee partner since day one, giving all participants free coffee before (and after) every event. What I thought was just a mutually beneficial partnership, is actually deeply embedded in who Nossa is. “It’s less about the coffee and more about bringing people together,” Augusto told me. According to their website,
Nossa Familia’s focus is on bringing you exceptional coffee stemming from exceptional relationships….Relationships with our farmers, community, and customers are our priority, and we’re constantly working to strengthen these connections.
We covered a lot in our almost 60-minute conversation (including a brief tour of their roasting facility), but here are a few things that stood out:
The Keys to a Great Cup of Coffee
- Growing and harvesting: “The farmer has to grow and dry it correctly.“
- Export Cycle: “How it’s cared for along the way makes a big difference!“
- Roasting: there’s a lot of details here, so watch this part for the nitty gritty!
- Brewing: The lab we recorded in is where they teach people how to maximize the coffee’s flavor. “Espresso is especially sensitive. Brewed five seconds too fast or too slow can mess it up.”
We also talked about the process for grinding and drinking coffee, which I learned I’ve been doing (kind of) wrong!
Always Be Making Friends!
One of Nossa’s core values is ABMF or Always Be Making Friends. “Strangers are simply people we haven’t made friends with yet.” Augusto went on to tell me that for them, coffee is just a vehicle for creating community. “Had my family been cocoa farmers, we’d be sitting here talking about chocolate!”
Other core values include:
- Building Trust
- Living Fully!
- Caring
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
P:EAR
Since 2013, Nossa has been working with p:ear, a non-profit that trains homeless youth and helps to give them job skills and training to get them off the streets.
A Brief History of Nossa Familia
Augusto has coffee embedded in his DNA. Originally from Brazil, his family has been growing coffee since the 1890’s. Today, they have five working farms, exporting all over the world.
In 2004. Augusto was an unfulfilled, bored, and frustrated mechanical engineer. After visiting his family in Brazil, he brought back a 70-pound box of coffee from the farm. He gave a bunch away and after some positive feedback decided to launch a coffee company. Augusto and a business partner each put in $400 to pay for the first shipment of coffee from Brazil. The rest is history.
He has used that same passion for bringing people together into a thriving company. Today, Nossa employs nover 35 people and just announced a massive expansion plan. You may see Augusto cycling or jogging around town; he is “seriously considering” joining us at one of our next 5K fun runs! Not coincidentally, Nossa Familia is launching an iced coffee bike this summer.
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/XNPFzUr_Z8U
Join us for our next Run!
The first five people who use promo code NossaFree will get a free entry to any of our runs! If you’re not one of the five, use Nossa5 to receive $5 off. See you out there!
