Alley Oop, Fri., May 8, 5-9pm, featuring Fernandez & Wolf, Mosley Wotta, Cloaked Characters, N.A.O.M.I.E.
Come “get down, get loud” in the alley between thump and The Wine Shop & Tasting Bar. The May Alley Oop outdoor music concert features an fun and funky array of local faves. The $5.00 cover includes 1 beer (sponsored [...]

In March, six of us from thump — and Finley — traveled to Portland to watch the U.S. National Barista Competition and visit some notable coffeehouses.

First Friday, April 3: Spring Art Hop Artist’s Reception (open late ’til 8:30pm)
Hop to thump for an artist’s reception, wine, delicious dessert bites from The Bittersweet Kitchen and live music by Vested at neighboring Karen Bandy Studio.

We recently hosted a surprise party recognizing Ernie Mazorol, a member of Bend’s community who has worked very hard over the years on behalf of children and families in Deschutes County in family court, drug court, domestic violence court, as well as helping establish a supervised visitation center. To learn more about how one person [...]

Thump Coffee is featured in the January 2009 issue of Fresh Cup Magazine, a monthly national publication for specialty coffee and tea professionals. The two-page “Café Crossroads – Retailer Spotlight” article includes a Q&A-style interview with Thump owners, Kent and Hazel Chapple. Photos of the shop’s interior and exterior taken by Thump barista Steven Chaprnka [...]

You may have noticed the addition of a third espresso grinder on the bar. Our new Mazzer Robur E, affectionately named “Darth Vader,” is a state-of-the-art bad boy who means business! With the intent of adding another grinder for single-origin espresso, we went on the quest to research and discover a grinder that would also [...]

Special Hours
First Friday, February 6, 5:00-7:00pm
Artist’s reception for our very own Steven Chaprnka
CUPPING: Sunday, February 22, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Please join us for this low-key and fun exploration of the ins and outs of tasting coffee like the pros. Get details by subscribing to our newsletter.

ART: Steven Chaprnka + B. Neill Sinclair “Gentleman’s Alley” Photography + [...]

This month, Thump’s featured coffee is El Salvador Kilimanjaro Direct Trade, Organic.  This coffee is produced by Aida Battle, a female coffee farmer who Stumptown recently invited to Portland to speak at their “Meet the Producers” series.  (See the December thumpology for more info. on our fieldtrip to meet Aida.)
El Salvador Kilimanjaro is a former [...]

September was a month of cool trainings. Kent broke away for a few days to go to the Seattle Coffeefest, an annual trade show where thousands of people gather to learn, teach, debate, buy, and sell everything related to coffee.

If you have coffee related questions you’d like answered in future thumpology articles, post your questions here, and we’ll try to answer them!

We’ve previously explored the seasonality of coffee harvesting and how, like eating fresh produce when it’s in season, drinking coffees brewed from newly harvested beans is a more flavorful and enjoyable experience. Some coffeehouses — like thump — feature ever-changing drip coffee offerings that reflect what coffees have been recently harvested around the world. As [...]

Many people don’t think of coffee as an agricultural product that, like strawberries, peaches, and cherries, has a specific growing season. When fresh fruit is in season, you’re in heaven and you can’t get enough of it! When out of season, it’s usually a disappointment to eat. Similarly, coffees around the world ripen and are [...]

In previous Thumpology articles we’ve discussed how the roast can affect a coffee’s flavor. How it is processed after harvest can have an even more significant influence on its ultimate flavor.
Not to be confused with processing food, which might involve removing nutrients, adding artificial stabilizers, flavors, preservatives, etc., processing coffee is an all-natural sequence of [...]

Part I: How the Roast affects the Coffee’s Flavor
Before we knew much about coffee, we’d buy black beans glistening with oil, with descriptions like, dark roast, smoky, robust flavor. This sounded pretty good because, who wants to drink a whimpy cup, right? If dark roast meant robust flavor, then it would stand to reason that [...]

Freshness & roast dates: We receive coffee the day after it’s roasted. Coffee, like wine, needs time to breathe and “open up” before it can be fully enjoyed. Most coffees need 24-48 hours to “off-gas” carbon dioxide, so we’re receiving and serving it at the most flavorful period of its life.
Coffees also stale dramatically after [...]