MODERN FOLKLORE

courier coffee is joel domreis.

joel domreis looks good in pants, but his pants are looking a little worse for the wear. the dark grey coated-denim ones he bought at the end of last year aren't so dark anymore and show the hand smeared trails of coffee grounds all the better as a result. the rain and the sun will do that to pants, and joel is out biking in them (the pants, in the rain and the sun) every day.

courier coffee roasts and delivers by bike in portland, ore., and that's what the header at the courier coffee blog will let you know right away. but that's not all there is to know about courier coffee, or about joel domreis.

joel got his start as a coffee roaster in his backyard or his garage or somewhere -- with a hand torch. he's had some informal tutelage from stumptown (indie rock starbucks, in case you've forgotten), but that was more through his own persistence and refusal to be discouraged than any effort by stumptown to share with another local, although back then stumptown still was one. and through that same indefatigable persistence, joel/courier maintains a small roasting facility near se 40th and hawthorne out of which he/courier has been headquartered for the last half decade or so.

courier coffee is served at restaurants that have, over the years, been named some of the best in portland, as well as at, over the years, some of portland's best cafes. the half & half cafe, a longtime fixture of portland's "indie rock block" (don't think stumptown this time) between sw 9th and 10th on oak st near powell's, was an exclusive purveyor of joel's coffee until it closed its doors this past spring.

that closing, though, proved a boon for joel and courier coffee (and for all of its devotees, including the employees of nearby wieden+kennedy, whose overtime tested tastes have compared the effects of joel's coffee favorably to those of other ad agency tested stimulants) -- as the space previously occupied by the half & half is now the site of the first independent courier cafe.

the courier cafe is still very much a work in progress. joel and his employees have yet to work out a solid accounting system, and the cash taken across the (native) walnut coffee bar is, for now, kept on a clipboard next to the clean ceramics. (thieves be warned, joel's already loyal clientele are ready to brawl.) but if the current state of affairs is a reflection of things at their shakiest, the courier cafe is positioned for success.

the nascent atmosphere is sophisticated and carefully designed, but still manages to be comfortable and welcoming. the current cafe can seat just as many patrons as its previous incarnation but with another half dozen stools available at the bar. the furnishings are sleekly uniform, and the high walls are white, this month decorated with prints of photographs of late night bike fun by gus van sant and warhol factory candids of break dancers and jean-michel basquiat -- pretensions that would be off-putting if the place weren't joel's. but joel is courier coffee, and the man makes the space.

on friday, joel -- ever the mad scientist -- talked about his plans to spend the weekend remaking an espresso machine for an account (courier cafe is as yet only open five days a week, and courier coffee still diligently makes all of its daily deliveries), while lamenting that he hadn't been home for three days and had been washing his face using the reflective side of the cafe's synesso as a mirror. and fondly, somehow, after a crazy first week of operation, joel also recalled contemplating a night on the roof after having been locked inside the space by an employee. whether that night was the result of playfulness or exhausted oversight is an argument that resolves on either side in favor of the special character of the courier cafe.

as of yet there isn't capacity for siphon brewing, a luxury fad that pulls many a pretty penny from customers at other downtown cafes, but there was talk of installing a milk tap with "flashturization" mechanisms in the ceiling for use in fancy concoction of espresso drinks. when pressed on the milk tap's sensibility toward the bottom line, joel admitted that a malt beverage would surely be a more profitable option, but then added that beer by the bottle is really how to bring in the green.

joel was counting his hours of missed sleep in his reflection at the synesso when jonathan maus of bikeportland.org showed up to take pictures. jonathan had a cup of drip and tried the specially made pineapple upside down cake instead of going for one of the affogatos that joel and his employees were pushing that day. surprisingly, the courier cafe is the only place in portland serving them, and for anyone who really needs convincing, a shot of espresso over a cup of vanilla ice cream is a taste and texture experience worth at least double the three dollars listed on joel's meticulously handwritten menus.

the bar discussion at 3:00 p.m. was over whether to play a mötley crüe record or an r. kelly one (the latter won out), and joel seemed excited to be only four hours away from the end of his first week of storefront business. one of his two staff baristas had just shown up with burritos. joel was hungry, and who can say how long he'd gone on just coffee. a couple came in the door just as he was getting the paper off his late lunch and joel bristled: "are these friends of ours?" ever the intrepid businessman, joel didn't want to present a sloppy image. coffee stained, rain drenched, sun baked pants notwithstanding: "i don't think we should be eating behind the bar."