MR
Marcus Rowe
Founder & Head Roaster
SCA Certified · 14 Years Roasting · Bend, OR
Our Story / Est. 2014
WhereEverySipBegins
A small roastery born from a love of mountains, mornings, and what a single perfect bean can become.
Marcus Rowe founded Northbound Coffee Roasters in Bend, Oregon in 2014 after spending three seasons climbing the Cascades and drinking terrible coffee from a thermos. He wanted something better, so he built it. The first batches came off a 5-kilo drum in his garage on Newport Avenue. Neighbors started buying bags. Then restaurants. Then the rest followed.
Today Northbound operates from a glass-walled roasting floor on the east side of Bend, where you can watch every roast from the pour-over bar. Single-origin lots arrive directly from farmers Soleil Nakamura has visited in Ethiopia, Colombia, and Sumatra. Nothing is blended to hide behind. Every bag carries the name of the farm.
The mountain views out the west window have not gotten old. The coffee has only gotten better.
Single-origin, direct-trade relationships with every farm
Glass-walled roasting floor open to guests daily
No commodity blends, no shortcuts on freshness
Marcus Rowe
Founder, Head Roaster
Est. 2014
Meet the Roaster
Marcus Rowe
Founder and Head Roaster
Marcus did not find coffee at a tasting competition or a trade show. He found it on a ridge above Broken Top in 2009, where a thermos of flat, bitter drip coffee was the worst part of an otherwise perfect morning. That wrongness stayed with him until he did something about it.
"The mountain deserves better coffee. Everything I roast is an argument for that."
He trained under Stumptown veterans in Portland, then spent two seasons in Copenhagen studying Nordic light-roast precision before returning to Bend. He believes every bean has a correct development time and that finding it is a form of listening. Northbound does not rush. The glass-walled roasting floor is intentional: the work should be visible, not hidden.
SCA Certified Roaster
14 Seasons Roasting
Direct-Trade Pioneer
Good Food Award 2022
The People
Meet the Team
A small group united by an obsession with craft, origin, and what the next roast can become.
SN
Soleil Nakamura
Green Buyer & Origin Liaison
Q Grader · 9 Seasons Origin Travel
TB
Theo Brandvik
Lead Barista & Pour-Over Bar
USBC Competitor · Aeropress Champion 2022
IC
Ida Calloway
Events & Community
Cupping Host · Specialty Coffee Educator
We could move faster. We choose not to.
Slowistheonlyspeed.
Every lot we roast is developed to its natural apex, not pushed to a formula. Every cup at our pour-over bar is timed. Every bag carries a roast date, not a best-by date. Craft does not have a shortcut. The mountain taught us that.
Come Find Us
Your next great morning starts here.
Visit the roastery on Bend’s east side, watch the roast through the glass wall, and pull up a stool at the pour-over bar. We are open every morning.