The 7 Best Coffee Shops in Portland, Maine

Back in the ’90s we helped jumpstart Portland’s “Buy Local” movement and inaugurated our Rebel Blend Fund—one dollar per pound sold of our Rebel Blend coffee is used to fund art projects which promote social change. And now, as an established company, we take more seriously than ever our responsibility to make a positive impact, with initiatives like our partnership with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, which works towards greater equity and empowerment for women in the global coffee community. The Proper Cup is a quaint, inviting cafe in the heart of Portland’s Oakdale neighborhood. Accounting for both pay boosts, wage increases will “vary from around 6% to around 9% depending on length of service and pre-(collective bargaining agreement) wage rates,” Shedlock said.

COFFEEHOUSES

Baristas and front-of-house staff at Coffee by Design have successfully joined a union. After voting unanimously and signing the contract earlier this week, they are now the newest members of Local 327 of the laborers' union. With ten years in Portland and three locations, Speckled Ax now roasts both certified single origin organic coffees and small lot, high quality conventionals still using an intuitive and completely manual roasting process that includes a vintage Italian Petroncini fired with local hardwood. Despite their impressive growth, Speckled Ax’s simple objective of roasting coffee that is on par with the best has not changed. Pardon another obvious coffee pun (we promise we’ll stop at some point), but the buzz-worthy Buzz Coffee is the Old Port’s only underground “micro cafe”.

Over the years, they’ve become known for their delicious drinks served by friendly and well-informed baristas, making them a go-to spot for coffee lovers seeking both quality and a welcoming atmosphere. A few years later it became the site of our first coffee roastery as CBD began handcrafting specialty coffee. Today, the India Street coffeehouse remains a community anchor as the India Street neighborhood continues to grow. Portland, Maine is the biggest city in the state, and certainly has the most to offer when it comes to food and drinks.

Coffee is no different – you’ll find the most diverse options to post up with your laptop in a cafe or just grab a delicious latte to go. It is the first independent coffee shop in Maine to have ratified a contract with a labor union, a spokesperson for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LIUNA, said in a statement Friday. Happy to be apart of Portland’s rich coffee scene, Moonday Coffee resources their beans from Portland neighbors, Speckled Ax. Perfect for the coffee-lover who loves their cup to go, seating is not available indoors, however, on sunny warm days, Moonday Coffee does have a table outdoors to sip in the sun.

Roasting our own beans.

Stumptown said this location signals "a shared investment with other businesses and companies in the rejuvenation of downtown Portland." PORTLAND, Ore. — Stumptown Coffee opened a new cafe in downtown Portland this weekend, designed as a "love letter" to Portland. "We're really starting to have a variety of resources, businesses, multi-family environments in this neighborhood," Porth-Henderson said.

Stumptown Coffee opens new cafe Downtown: 'Love Letter to Portland' with Japandi style

Their unyielding commitment to quality and their dedication to delivering the finest donuts and coffee have firmly established Eighty8 as a cornerstone of the Old Port. Don’t miss the chance to experience the enchantment of their warm, mouthwatering donuts and savor their well-deserved, 2023 Portland Old Port award-winning iced coffee. In addition to the variety of coffees we offer at our locations, we also work collaboratively with some of the best chefs in Maine to handcraft coffee that complements their individual menus.

Portland's Coffee by Design successfully joins a union - WMTW Portland

Portland's Coffee by Design successfully joins a union.

Posted: Sat, 27 Apr 2024 13:12:00 GMT [source]

Officials say joining a union brings wage increases, rewards longevity, and creates a labor-management committee. The bar and the furniture are made up of 100-plus-year-old salvaged wood from Maine mills and barns. As at all of our coffeehouses, visual art created by Maine artists is displayed on the walls. Their newest location adjacent to the Portland Foreside development offers both cups to go and indoor seating. Conveniently located by Portland’s waterfront, including Casco Bay Lines and where cruise ships dock, Speckled Ax on Thames Street is just a short walk from the Old Port and all of Portland’s highlights.

We put our values into action—retaining staff, continuing our philanthropical efforts, and banding together as a family to get through the toughest times together. In 2023, Alan left the company to pursue other interests, selling his shares to Mary Allen, making Coffee By Design a proudly 100% woman-owned business. Portland, Maine, is our home, and over the years we have built an enduring network of friends and neighbors, colleagues and connections throughout the city and surrounding community. Mainers and visitors from all walks of life have come together in our coffee houses and through the programs we support and sponsor , finding the common ground for which coffee can be a catalyst. Portland Ovations’ visiting artist, Toto Kisaku, a decorated Congolese playwright whose performance of “Requiem for an Electric Chair” was sponsored by Coffee By Design, meets local community leaders, including Mary Allen. Our Washington Street location is expanded and the roastery is relocated there from India Street.

"This process showed that when workers and management commit to actively listen to each other, challenge each other's assumptions of what's possible and jettison the preconceived construct of winners and losers; a pathway to shared goals becomes clear." From the day we opened our doors, we have focused on ways to promote economic sustainability at the point of origin, emphasizing long-term relationship building with coffee farmers and co-ops. Through project work in Colombia, Guatemala, India, and Burundi, we demonstrate to coffee-growing communities that we are interested in doing more than just sourcing great coffee—we want to be involved in ways that improve quality of life for all, including future generations. Stumptown Coffee’s downtown cafe features the full menu of Stumptown Coffee beverages found in all cafes, along with rotating seasonal and signature beverages and all sorts of pastries, bagels, and sandwiches. The company says this location is designed with a "cozy and warm Japandi" design, fusing "Japanese wabi-sabi and the Scandinavian practice of hygge, finished with eclectic and art-forward touches."

"We have stuck it out through COVID and beyond," said Sarah Johnson, the area manager at Stumptown Coffee Roaster. "We really believe in this city coming back and so that's why when it was time to pick our newest location, we decided we were going to stick with downtown Portland." Union leaders say employees at Coffee by Design formed a union earlier this week with the Laborers' International Union of North America. The window setup works really well, as the side of the shop faced a small park so there’s plenty of space to form a line, wait for your order, and sip your beverages.

Coffee By Design and a recently formed union of baristas have reached an agreement that boosts wages, rewards long-time employees and lays out a strategy for improved relations between the company’s workers and managers, officials said. Check out Burundi Star Coffee, Smalls Cafe, Tandem Coffee and Bakery, Yordprom Coffee Shop, LB Kitchen, Onggi, The Proper Cup, and Arabica Coffee House. Another coffee cart-turned-micro-cafe, Moonday Coffee now lives in The Black Box of Washington, a unique retail experience using repurposed shipping containers, serving up coffee, traditional chai, and fine teas. With an expansive list, here’s just a taste (or should we say sip?) of coffee shops, cafes, and roasteries in Portland, Maine where you can celebrate this National Coffee Day, September 29th. Apr. 26—Coffee By Design and a recently formed union of baristas have reached an agreement that boosts wages, rewards long-time employees and lays out a strategy for improved relations between the company's workers and managers, officials said.

Lindemann said at the time the decision to close was unrelated to workers' efforts to unionize and came after "years of this location barely breaking even." Shedlock also said talks of shuttering that cafe were "in the works" before the union effort began. Another outcome of the new contract is the formation of a "Labor-Management Committee for the purposes of implementing shared goals and exploring new ways to collaborate," according to Friday's statement. Shedlock said the collective bargaining agreement includes an immediate pay increase for every represented worker and a second increase later in the year. "Today's announcement should be an immense point of pride for Coffee By Design and the workers who power its success," said Jason J. Shedlock, a regional organizer with the union.

A staple to the Portland coffee scene, Coffee By Design now has four different locations; three sprinkled throughout varying Portland neighborhoods and one in Freeport. Committed to arts, the community and quality coffee since the beginning, Coffee by Design boast 100% traceability, which means they can follow the coffee back to the farmer, or community of farmers, that produced it. The coffeehouse received a recent revitalization in the spring of 2016 but similar to all their locations, you can enjoy visual art created by Maine artists. Friday's news contrasts with unionization efforts by workers at a national coffee chain with shops in Maine's biggest city.

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