Pastime is dedicated to recognizing coffee as a people business first; one that treats partners and producers with respect, pays above average for exceptional coffee, and roasts with consistency and quality at the forefront, while doing what they can to keep our environmental impact low. Simply put: delicious coffee, done right.

Ready to explore Pastime's coffee? Jump in here.

At Trade, we’re all about origin stories. How did Pastime begin?

Pastime started with a simple idea: give cafes the wholesale support they actually need (and deserve). As roasting companies in Portland and beyond started pulling away from services beyond just providing roasted coffee, it became clear how much cafes needed and relied on that support—and how few resources they had to turn to. Coffee is a people business, and we knew treating partners like partners has to come first. Armed with a shoestring budget, a heck of a lot of know-how, and a few cafe owners willing to commit as wholesale partners, Justin took the leap and founded Pastime in 2024. Just over a year later, Erica joined as co-owner to help wrangle the growing wholesale demand and dedicate time to their own retail operation.

What’s your philosophy when it comes to sourcing and roasting coffee?

We recognize that the coffee supply chain has deep roots in colonialism, and as coffee buyers, it's our responsibility to establish practices that ensure economic stability for producers. The best way to support producers is to buy the entirety of their harvest at excellent prices. As a micro-roaster, we're not quite there yet, but we've found a way to do right by producers in the meantime. We work with a select group of exporting partners at origin and green coffee importers who build long-term relationships with producers and treat them with genuine respect. Importers often get labeled as "middlemen," but they're actually a vital part of the supply chain. They have the volume to purchase large quantities of a producer's or cooperative's harvest at prices that far exceed Fair Trade minimums. This means we get to work with incredible coffees from producers who've been paid fairly for their hard work; and that's what matters most.

Your visual identity really stands out. What inspired the branding and design behind Pastime?

In crafting our brand identity and packaging design, we made deliberate choices rooted in over a decade of experience working with various roasting companies. Our primary concern was minimizing environmental impact, leading us to collaborate with MTPak to create fully compostable retail bags in 10-ounce and 2-pound sizes, complete with compostable valves and zippers.

Next, we focused on our visual identity. We aimed for a design that melds timelessness with modernity, drawing inspiration from mid-century jazz and art book covers. The goal was a clean, uncluttered look with pops of color on an off-white backdrop, signaling quality in a cohesive way.

We opted for bags over more extravagant options like boxes or paper tubes because we believe customers should spend as little money as possible on packaging. When buying a bag of coffee, the focus should be on the product itself, not the packaging costs which keeps our retail pricing affordable.

We know relationships and sustainability are at the heart of what you do. How does that show up in your daily operations or long-term mission?

Building and maintaining relationships is central to why we are in the coffee business. We believe that everyday actions and simply showing up for people matter most. Whether it's rushing last-minute coffee to a wholesale partner who unexpectedly runs out or helping another coffee roaster with equipment issues, we go out of our way to help.

These actions lead to connections that are both personally and professionally fulfilling. This is why we truly love what we do.

We believe that a business should be both environmentally and financially sustainable. This allows us to keep doing what we love every day. To achieve this, we take small steps with every decision. 

For example, we use a Loring Roaster, which saves a lot more energy compared to traditional drum roasters. We also have chosen to stay as long as possible in a shared roasting facility to share resources with other roasters instead of having our own equipment sit idle. 

Additionally, we source green coffee shipped by boat instead of air freight to cut transport emissions even though it takes longer. These small actions add up to make a big impact over time.

We also have a bucket program for wholesale customers, where they receive their coffee in buckets instead of single-use five-pound bags to save on packaging materials.

Looking ahead, what’s exciting you most this year—new coffees, projects, collaborations, or goals?

Pastime is still a young company and has experienced growth and changes that were unexpected its first two years. For us, it feels like the sky is the limit and, quite literally, anything is possible. Trade is the biggest and most exciting project we are working on at the moment; beyond that, we look forward to expanding our operational space at the roastery (more storage is always exciting) and developing an ongoing resource and conversation through our blog, Subject to Change.

Founder / Team Q&A

First, tell us a little about yourself—whatever you’d like to share.

I (Justin) have been in the coffee industry since 2004, starting with a job at an espresso and barbecue stand in high school. Over the years, I've taken on many roles in specialty coffee, including barista, cafe manager, green coffee buyer, coffee roaster, and general manager of a coffee roasting company. I've also dabbled in equipment service and coffee roaster repair. This broad experience gave me the confidence to start Pastime Coffee. With nearly 20 years of skills under my belt, I'm dedicated to serving the coffee community in the best way I know how.

What are three things you love most about running a roasting business?

Only three? This operation is a culmination of all of the things we like to do—getting our hands dirty, being creative and logical simultaneously, working alongside hard working people who are making delicious things. Between the two of us, we have nearly 40 years of experience in the specialty coffee industry. Running this operation is putting all the things we feel privileged to have learned individually to use in the same place, in the most fun and positively impactful way possible.

We have to ask: how do you make coffee at home?

With the convenience and precision of so many automatic home brewers, both of us use them at our respective houses to brew our morning cup. Justin uses the Aiden brewer by Fellow, Erica is on a Ratio 6. There are (of course) a whole bunch of incredible single cup brewing devices on the market as well, Nextlevel Pulsar Brewer is one our favorites.

For someone discovering Pastime Coffee for the first time, which coffee would you recommend—and why?

Pastime's single-origin menu is dynamic, continuously rotating, and always delicious, representing a career spanning refinement of our green buying and roasting approaches. The producers we partner with from Colombia and Kenya have been blowing us away recently. 

However, if you're looking for a consistent, every-day-drinker that's big enough to wake you up but sweet enough to keep you sipping until the cup is cold, that's undoubtedly Sure Thing. This flagship blend is a combination of washed coffees from South America and Ethiopia that we keep on the menu year-round. It's developed a touch more than our more delicate single origins, giving it a round body and incredible balance—perfect for any brew method, any time of day.