The Story of Willow & Stone Coffee Roasters

In 2015, two college friends, Maya and Lucas, were working late nights in a cramped apartment in Portland. Maya was a graphic designer with a passion for branding, and Lucas had spent years as a barista, obsessed with perfecting espresso. Both were frustrated by how many coffee shops sold the same blends without much personality.

One rainy evening, while brewing beans they had sourced from a small family farm in Guatemala, Lucas said:

"Why doesn’t anyone treat coffee the way craft breweries treat beer—unique, personal, and transparent about where it comes from?"

That idea sparked Willow & Stone Coffee Roasters.

They started roasting beans in a tiny garage, hand-labeling each bag with marker pens and selling them at local farmers markets. Their early batches weren’t perfect, but people noticed the care they put into describing flavor notes and the farms behind each bean. Word spread fast, and within six months, they had local cafes calling them for wholesale orders.

By 2018, Willow & Stone opened its first café—a warm, plant-filled space with mismatched furniture and shelves stocked with their rotating small-batch roasts. Their unique twist: each bag came with a QR code linking to videos of the farmers, the roasting process, and brewing tips. This transparency made customers feel like part of the journey.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, their café struggled, but Maya pivoted fast. She designed a subscription service where customers could get new roasts delivered monthly, complete with tasting cards and brew guides. This not only kept the business alive—it grew it. By 2022, subscriptions became their biggest revenue stream.

Today, Willow & Stone is known nationwide among coffee enthusiasts. They remain committed to ethical sourcing, pay above-market rates to farmers, and keep their storytelling personal. Maya jokes:

"We never wanted to be the biggest coffee company. Just the most honest one."

And with every bag sold, their story continues.

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