2018
Founded in Portland, OR
Our Story
Roasted with
intention.
Ember & Oak was born from a simple conviction: that extraordinary coffee starts long before the brew.
In 2018, founder Maya Okonkwo left a decade in restaurant kitchens to open a small roastery above a hardware store on SE Division Street. Her first drum roaster — a 5-kilo Probat she named "Greta" — is still running every Tuesday and Thursday morning, filling the neighborhood with the caramel warmth of first crack.
Today we work directly with 11 farming families across Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Sumatra. We pay above Fair Trade minimum by an average of 34%, and we visit every farm at least once a year. When you taste the brightness in our Yirgacheffe Mist, you're tasting the elevation of Gedeo, the red soil, and the hands of the Tadesse family who have cultivated those trees for three generations.
Farmer-First
Small-Batch
Zero-Waste Roasting