Roast of the coast
Exploring the process with Columbia River Coff ee Roaster
BY GREGORY ZSCHOMLER
When it comes to enjoying a good cup
of coff ee, there are a lot of steps between
crop and cup. The popular beverage moves
through three phases: growing, roasting and
brewing.
As a craft, roasting is both an art and
a science. Nancy Montgomery and Tim
Hurd, founders of Columbia River Cof-
fee Roaster in Astoria, run one of the North
Coast’s premier roasteries. It all started
with an antique Royal No. 5 coff ee roaster
that the pair purchased in 1992.
“We off er a wide variety of coff ee(s) for
a wide variety of coff ee drinkers,” Mont-
gomery said. The roastery distributes more
than two dozen proprietary roasts as well as
custom blends.
Perhaps their most well-known and
locally-consumed variety is the dark roast,
called Thundermuck, but they also distrib-
ute an assortment of single-origin roasts
and unique blends such as Fishers & Fallers
and Jonny Tsunami.
Jon Reimer, director of coff ee at Colum-
12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Columbia River
Coff ee Roaster
279 W. Marine Drive, Astoria
Open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays
through Saturdays
www.columbiarivercoff eeroaster.com
bia River Coff ee Roaster, oversees raw
coff ee buying and the roastery’s whole-
sale program. Both Reimer and Montgom-
ery stress that the coff ee business is about
building relationships, from growers to
customers.
Beans are purchased from growers
from around the world — that is, within
the coff ee-growing belt along the equato-
rial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn — which stretches
across Central and South America, Africa
and Asia.
ABOVE: A view of various roasting machines at
Columbia River Coff ee Roaster.
BELOW: Jon Reimer, left, director of coff ee at
Columbia River Coff ee Roaster, stands beside
owner Nancy Montgomery.
Photos by Gregory Zschomler
See Page 13