About us

Twelve years on the same drum.

A small Portland roastery, building a coffee company the slow way — one bag, one cooperative, one Tuesday at a time.

2014 → now

How we got here.

Northbound began with a question: could a small roastery in coastal Maine build direct, long-term relationships with farms in places like Yirgacheffe, Huila, and Antigua — and roast their coffee the way it deserved? Twelve years in, the answer is yes, but slowly.

In 2014 we bought one used 12-kilo Probat drum and a stack of brown paper bags. We were two people. We roasted two days a week. We delivered the bags by bike to three cafes in Portland and a small dry goods store on Munjoy Hill.

Today we’re a team of eleven. We still roast twice a week. We’re still in Portland. The Probat is bigger and the bike rides have been replaced by trucks, but the rhythm is the same.

What we care about

The three things, every time.

Source well.

Every coffee on our menu comes from a farm or cooperative we have visited, often a relationship we’ve held for years. We pay farmers prices that begin where the C-market ends.

Roast small.

Two batches a week, never more than we can sell in 21 days. Coffee leaves our roastery within 48 hours of roasting. Most of it within 24.

Stay honest.

We publish a yearly transparency report — what we paid farmers, by lot, in dollars per pound. It’s on the journal. We’ll take honest scrutiny over good marketing every time.

“We didn’t start Northbound to be the biggest roaster in Maine. We started Northbound because we wanted to do this one thing very well — and to know the farmers and the customers on either side of it.”

Hannah Wallace · Co-founder & Lead Roaster

Direct trade

Seven cooperatives. Seven relationships.

We work directly with seven farms and cooperatives across Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. We visit each one every year or two, taste through the new harvest, and commit to lots months before the coffee ships.

Konga Co-op
ETHIOPIA

Kiambu Estate
KENYA

Hingakawa
RWANDA

La Esperanza
COLOMBIA

El Pilar
GUATEMALA

Las Lajas
COSTA RICA

Esmeralda
PANAMA