A six-stool bar that grew a roaster.
Small-batch coffee, roasted around the corner.
Foglifter opened in 2014 as a six-stool espresso bar with a borrowed grinder and a lot of opinions about water temperature. In 2017 we put a 12-kilo roaster in the back, and the café became a roastery you can sit inside of. A decade in, we still buy green coffee from importers we can call by name, roast in small batches we taste through every morning, and chalk the day’s offering on the same board we started with.
Foglifter is a specialty coffee café and small-batch roaster in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. We roast seasonal single origins and house blends a few feet from the bar, pull espresso and pour-over to order, and write what’s good today on the board. There’s a corner to sit in, a subscription to take it home, and a barista who’ll remember your drink.
The things we won’t compromise on.
Roasted on-site
Every bean is roasted in small batches a few feet from the bar — never older than it should be.
Sourced with names
We buy from importers and farms we can call by name and pay transparent, above-market prices.
Roast date, not best-by
Every bag is stamped with the day it was roasted. Coffee is fresh food; we treat it that way.
Alt milk, no charge
Oat, almond, soy — always free. Good coffee shouldn’t come with a surcharge for how you take it.
Career baristas
We pay a living wage, share tips fairly, and train baristas who actually want to be here.
A third place
Free wifi, real chairs, outlets you can find, and a patio your dog is welcome on. Stay a while.
The people who make it.
Noa Fielding
Founder & Green BuyerDrinks: Kirinyaga, V60, blackOpened the six-stool espresso bar in 2014. Now travels to origin, buys the green, and still pulls Saturday-morning shots.
Theo Marsh
Head RoasterDrinks: Lowlight as a cortadoRuns the Loring and builds every roast curve by hand. Cups through the day’s production before the doors open.
Lena Park
Café DirectorDrinks: Maple-cardamom latte, oatTrains the bar team, writes the board, and keeps the wholesale accounts caffeinated. Reigning latte-art champ.
Omar Diallo
Lead Barista & EducatorDrinks: Guji natural, AeroPressDials in espresso, runs our public brew classes, and will happily talk grind size with you for an hour.