By Christian Messer

Pacific Northwest is hopping with coffee houses, drive-thrus, independent coffee roasters and everything else in between including Starbucks, McDonalds and Dunkin Doughnuts all clamoring for customers. Oregon is right behind Washington for the coffee stronghold. Portland has the most coffee roasters, and unless you look for them, you would never know they exist, being drowned out by the bigger players in the bean field.

Cardinal Coffee is one of those roasters. Its owner, Hamilton Ash has a high regard for quality coffee and beans, and his business shows it. We caught up with him on a busy morning and found out we knew little about coffee, and probably haven’t had a genuinely good cup in long time.

Originally from Portland, Maine – Hamilton and Bethany Ash came to Portland six years ago from McAllen, Texas. They lived there for 15 years – during that time Hamilton was in the computer business, first working in schools for Apple, Inc. – he then started his own consulting business, working with law firms.

Ash thought he could get the same type of work here but found that the small law firms in Portland didn’t have the wealth like those in McAllen. He stated that he didn’t care to go into the large law firms, due to the corporate nature and especially the IT aspect.

After a while, he realized that maybe his days as a computer consultant were over. Literally the day they moved, Ash and his wife were contacted by a neighbor and a friendship began to cultivate. This neighbor began to tell them about a business he was starting, in coffee, selling a Sexton Huntsman product. It was coffee infused with some sort of aphrodisiac and they would sell it on the web. Ash was intrigued as memories of coffee, its aroma and mystic began peculating in his head.

Both Hamilton and Bethany were then introduced to the coffee world at a trade show in Seattle. As he says it, “We were both turned on to what we saw. For me particularly, the roasting side of it. I had never roasted coffee, didn’t hardly think about it. All of a sudden I was presented by this new world, and it was an international show as well. So there were folks from all over the world, presenting their wares.”

The coffee web business project with the neighbor didn’t happen, Ash recalls, “I thought, well that’s it. I’ll look around and didn’t know what to do. Then after a couple of years, doing a little bit of computer consulting, still in Texas…commuting back and forth. I kind of settled more into the Portland scene. Then I had one last job, and it was hell. That job tipped me over the fence to think, You know, you’ve got to do something else. Seriously, because you can’t be doing this work.”

“Bethany said, ‘You know, we have some cash here, you’re interested in roasting, so why don’t you buy a roaster? And start making coffee’…and I thought, O.K. – so that’s what I did. I bought a roaster, set it up, got some beans and started roasting. The business is two and half years old…I’m still learning, but in the roasting business you’re constantly learning. I ramped up pretty quickly and got a clientele. I found I did a pretty good job roasting coffee. My plans for the roasting business increased. I could see myself…not in a huge-huge situation but in a larger situation than I am right now, I’m working towards it. Travel is an element in the coffee business, I’m a very international person, I’ve done a lot of traveling. I like what goes on in other countries. The coffee business is a real mix of product and people.

The a year after that, Bethany decided she wanted to do something in the coffee business. We weren’t ready for a coffee shop situation, so we settled on a mobile business. We got the van and it became Espresso Giuseppe. I was roasting espresso at the time, so that’s how that started. I’ve been in the food service business before the computer consulting. So I was familiar with the food service business, so it wasn’t alien to me. I had a restaurant in Portland, Maine. We moved from Portland, Maine to Texas, and then to Portland, Oregon. We’ve been in Oregon for six years.”

“I love the coffee business. It’s my future, it’s Bethany’s future as well, so we are totally committed to what we’re doing”

What’s your mission with Cardinal Coffee? Is it to have clients receive fresh coffee delivered to their door every week?
Yes, if that’s what they want. My mission is to save the world from bad coffee. Saving the world from bad coffee, one bag a time! It’s amazing how much bad coffee is out there, seriously. Just because it comes in a fancy package or it comes from a fancy coffee shop does not mean it’s quality.

Where do your beans come from?
My importers that I have right now, are Royal Oakland for larger quantities. Smaller quantities I get on the internet and I have some suppliers that will supply in 25 pound and 50 pound bags. There are quite a few coffee importers around this area, Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver, and Portland. As far as the coffee goes, we’ve got the Indonesian coffee which is very very popular, excellent coffee.

There’s Sumatra. Papua New Guinea, kind of classified as Indonesian, that is excellent. Coffee from India, very very high quality. Very high quality. There’s African, and I have my favorites, right now I’m buying Tanzanian Peaberry. I’ve had Ethiopian and Kenyan, Rowandon coffee is excellent.

This is the important part of coffee. You need it to be consistent. You can’t have one batch come in and it’s great and the next batch not being great. That can really mess things up. The consistency of quality is paramount.

As far as Central America goes…Coffee from Panama, a big favorite of mine, and South American Columbian coffee is a favorite.

So I would say my favorites…and I mostly sell what my favorites are. My favorites are Sumatra…in its different forms…Papua New Guinea, Tanzanian, Panama, India, and Columbia.

Do you get involved with the Fair Trade issues? Or do your importers do that for you?
Yes, some of my coffee is fair trade. Some of my coffee is organic and I really would like to go totally organic, because it’s the best way…and of course totally fair trade. Coffee from some regions however, is not that way. It may be organic, but it’s not certified organic. To be verified organic, the coffee producer has to go through a process of certification if you will. Which takes time and costs some money. Then they get the official piece of paper that says their product is organic. Some coffee producers don’t want to go that route for whatever reason, although their coffee is organic. For example, if I go to Royal and I get organic coffee, I get a special piece of paper that states the coffee is organic. If I go somewhere else and they say it’s organic, I don’t get that piece of paper.

So there’s a little bit of research I have to do to make sure something is organic, or I’ll be talking to a coffee importer or something, and it’ll come out that yes, it’s organic, but it’s not official.

As far as the fair trade goes, there’s some material in the press recently that the fair trade folks are having a problem with the fair trade process. That they’re are not making the money they thought they would be making, because they are going through the fair trade process. So there’s a little syphoned off here and there.

Now if a coffee roaster goes directly to the farm and worked out a fair trade price, that is something different. So the best way is for the roaster to have a direct relationship with the farm, a buying relationship, shipping relationship and payment relationship with the farm. Then those people will definitely benefit. But otherwise it doesn’t seem to work. I’m not there yet I’d like to be and want to be, but I’m not there.

That’s understandable…so could you walk me through your roasting process?
Yeah…It’s not rocket science. I use a San Fransiscan Roaster…It’s not made in San Franciscan, it’s made in Fallon, Nevada. It is a traditional roaster, and a traditional roaster being a drum roaster. Gas flame under the revolving drum. Beans are poured into a hopper above the drum. When the air temperature in the drum reaches a certain degree, the beans are then allowed to dropped into the drum…where they roast approximately 15 minutes. So, four batches an hour.

The roasting process is basically looking and listening…and a to a certain extent, smelling. I look at the temperature, I have an air temperature gage and a digital bean temperature. The difference being, the bean temperature is taken from a probe within the drum, where the beans are in direct contact with the probe. That gives me a better idea of what’s going on in the drum, rather than just the air temperature.

I listen…halfway through the process, the beans start to expand like popcorn. They pop…the official term is crack, so you’ll hear this cracking sound about halfway through. Now we really have to stay sharp as to what’s happening with the beans. A little further along, there is a spoon device where I can take out a sample of the beans to see their color…I then put that back. There’s also a site glass where I can see the beans as well.

I’m looking at the temperature and the color, and waiting for a second crack. Generally, my roast, Roaster’s Choice, I will take the beans out after the second crack or a little bit after the second crack. That gives the beans a nice dark brown color, but not black. You have to go further if you want the French roast, and I don’t do that unless someone specifies it.

Is there a different process that espresso beans go through?

Everyone has their own procedure for espresso. It’s kind of like a secret recipe, or a special sauce. You keep that under lock and key. It’s never a light roast, it’s what we call a full acidity…where the bean is dark brown and might have an oil sheen to it. Espresso is mostly a blend of different beans from different origins. Sometimes it can be from a single origin…that is the ideal. Mostly it is a blend…you do the blend because for espresso you want a certain taste, you want the crema, which is the foam, so to achieve that we do a blend. That is the American part of it…I’m still investigating this, in Italy, they can adjust the temperature on the roast so it becomes very dark without being burned.

Starbucks coffee? It’s burned. That’s the quick and easy way, you want it dark, well we’ll make it dark, but it gets burned in the process.

Is that what makes it bitter?
Yes. Dark, burned and generally bitter. Commercial coffee, Folgers, Maxwell House, Starbucks, Seattle’s Best…all that stuff is generally over roasted, burned and bitter. My father in-law drinks Folgers coffee and they put salt in it to take out the bitter taste.

In talking with you, I have a feeling I have not had good coffee in my house or otherwise. Our coffee comes in a can…
Yeah…it’s best not to tell me…(we laugh) But it’s cheap! You know I see in the grocery store isle, a can of Yuban, for five or six bucks, two pounds.

And now, Starbucks is getting into the instant coffee business.
Yeah…You know I as just reading today…if you go on Twitter, my last tweet was a link to an article on Starbucks, McDonalds and Dunkin Doughnuts…and they are having their coffee wars…there’s always coffee wars going on. Dunkin Doughnuts is made by Folgers, and I’m not sure about McDonalds…but the idea is that they are, spending all this money on media and marketing, and it could be a big flop in this country.

Especially here in Portland, there’s so many coffee shops to choose from, why would you want instant coffee…I am surprised that McDondalds and Dunkin Doughnuts are doing so well with their coffee.
Well, when you get out of Portland, you’re in a whole different world. Your driving down the highway and a coffee shop won’t be around…like in the middle of Montana, no coffee shop, but there’ll be a McDonalds.

Your business model…I remember the days when we would have the local dairy deliver milk to our doorstep…do people sign up and you personally deliver to customers and ship it out?
People can get a membership, and they pay up front, there’s a bout a 25% savings. I have some membership plans on the site, but they can work any way you like. With the membership, the product is shipped for free, unless it’s in town, close in to Portland, then it will be personally delivered. If it is out of town, it will be shipped…I use USPS Priority. I feel that for my volume, it’s the cheapest, even though the prices keep going up…compared to other carriers, it’s the cheapest and it is very quick. From here to New Orleans, 2 days…South Texas three days, East coast three days. In Oregon, a day.

With the others, we’re talking about five business days or a week, and that’s really too long for a bag of coffee.

Do you have clients beyond Oregon or the U.S.?
Not clients really, my daughter in-law is from Iceland, so I shipped some to her father…that took a few weeks apparently. (More laughter) He said it was very good, maybe it was…not being there to try it, but I bet the package smelled good.

Iceland…I have a Portland client who has an Indonesian products store. When he goes on buying trips, he stocks up with Sumatra, that’s his favorite, he takes that with him to Indonesia, because he can’t get good coffee there. So the coffee’s going home.

You see, a lot of the places, a lot of these countries…the people drink mostly instant coffee. Coffee producing countries, where the fabulous coffee comes from, they don’t drink coffee that much. India, is Nestcafe, and the U.K. I read today that it’s 80% instant coffee, which is phenomenal.

Wow! Who knows, maybe the Starbucks Via instant coffee could actually take off!
Yeah…it might bomb in this country but…it could work there.

Do you have local places that serve your coffee?
I have some offices, I have of course Espresso Giuseppe. I did have one coffee shop downtown, the Naked Portafilter by PSU (Portland State University), but they’ve changed hands recently. I really do need some solid coffee shop clients.
I’ve done sales calls to coffee shops and there’s a lot of competition, a lot. It’s all who you know, that is a very important part of the coffee scene.

So it is very much like Hollywood?
Yes…Stumptown for instance…when you’re looking at a $10,000 coffee machine, and you have someone say, “Well if you contract with us, we’ll let you use this $10,000 coffee machine,” it’s a no-brainer for a lot of people. Of course they’re going to do it. Once they are locked in, they can’t buy anyone else’s coffee. Like going to Starbucks…Starbucks isn’t going to buy my coffee.

There are many independents that aren’t because they have Stumptown. I’m looking for coffee shops that will feature other people’s coffee, that’s a good thing…Not “this is it, this is all we sell.” There’s a coffee shop in town called Barista that features several independents.
Here’s another thing…I don’t understand why coffee shops in Portland go to Seattle, Chicago, or California to buy their coffee. There’s so many roasters in Portland that can supply them. I do not understand that. Competition is fine, but buy local! Why go to Seattle? There are so many coffee shops in Portland that do that. They expect people to come in and patronize their store, local people…but they’re not supporting local people by buying locally roasted coffee.

It would make a great gift…
Yes…I’m seriously big on that. It’s a great gift, if you know the person you’re sending it to drinks coffee, it’s not expensive. It is unique…and you can just do a bag or two or give a membership…and the holiday season is coming up!

Being in the business, do you have any idea of why Oregonians are so drawn to or addicted to coffee?
I’m going to say the weather has a big effect…coming from Texas, particularly South Texas, where coffee is not the main thing on people’s mind. But when Starbucks came to town, that was a big thing because they were offering frapaccinos. So people wanted something cold. Hot coffee…No.

There were a couple of coffee shops but they didn’t do very well. When we left Texas, there where four Starbucks on the main street in town. People were not so much going in and hanging out, they were going through the drive-thru.

In Portland, there’s not so much drive-thru. People really want to go into a cozy environment. I think the weather. There may be other things as well…in Texas, everything is all spread out. Here, we’re kind of huddled together.

I think you’re right…and the independent shops foster building community. Tell me what drives your passion for doing this kind of work? What is that really turned you on at that trade show you were at?

That’s a good question. The tradition I think. Bare in mind that I was coming out of the computer business. There’s no tradition there, everything is always changing, you cannot settle down and be comfortable. I was looking for that…a harken to days gone by that were warm and cozy, and something that would last. Like my roaster…it’s a machine that was essentially designed to be used year ago. It will continue to be used forever, even when I’m dead and gone. You can’t say that about a computer or a digital camera.

That was something I Iiked. I saw heavy metal machines, packaging machines…I saw life. Like real life, where in the computer business, it had no life, it was all virtual. It had no soul.

How have you supported the LGBTIQ community as
an ally?
Well, PABA (Portland Area Business Association) to start with. Going to and supporting events…PRIDE. Last year we did the PRIDE parade, which was very exciting…that was wonderful. I was a little upset that I had to work it in the van, rather than being out there enjoying the events going on. My wife’s brother is gay. I gave him employment at the restaurant long ago. That’s the close personal connection. We have many friends in the gay community who are wonderful, wonderful people. I could name names, but I’d leave some people out.

We came out of a somewhat closed environment. Portland was a breath of fresh air. We fly the fag, when we get in the van, the old rainbow flag comes out…it says, hey, this is us…and what we support.