Superjoy Coffee Lab & Roasters - 10/10
There’s too much to say. You should really just go try their espresso.
Superjoy attempts to bring a blend of artful appreciation of coffee and chinese culture to the Portland coffee scene.
I tried not to eavesdrop, but while I drank my coffee and enjoyed the ambiance of the shop, I couldn’t help but overhear Christopher (who seems to be the primary roaster) training up a new employee. I overheard him gently preaching the value of consistency in a barista; how to consistently and diligently clean your workspace in between every shot, how to measure all the observable input variables, how to deliver the same shot over and over again.
He clearly cares about his coffee and the presentation of his roasts, which he seems to put 100% effort into.
My espresso tasted perfectly balanced with a mild finish; on the darker side of fruity with notes of cherry and pomegranate and a bit of nuttiness. I had their medium roast blend of natural-process Ethiopian and washed-process Guatamalan beans
Christopher was excited to tell me about ever aspect of his shop, from the new design and branding language he recently brought to the bags to the procurement of the different beans he roasts in-house.
While I listened to Chris passionately give me every detail about his shop, I noticed some very interesting specialty drinks on the seasonal menu: a chinese pepper mocha, a rose honey latte, and a maple oat latte. This heavily reminded me of Never Coffee’s creative seasonal specialty lattes.
Chris also mentioned that they usually have some chinese beans in house, but happened to be out that day; I had never (to my knowledge) tried chinese-grown beans before, so I plan to visit next week when they (hopefully) have them back in stock.