Inside the new Slow Haste coffee bar in Portland’s Kerns neighborhood. All images courtesy of Slow Haste.
A new craft coffee spot in Portland, Oregon, called Slow Haste is quickly winning over the hearts of guests with high-quality coffees and laid-back vibes.
Guided by a team of four founders from Portland’s cafe scene, Slow Haste now represents the daytime activation of the Kerns neighborhood space where the cocktail bar Collector comes to life at night.
The mixology-minded coffee bar blends naturally within the 800-square-foot environment, where natural light through lots of windows sustains abundant hanging plants. Wood surfaces, exposed plaster walls and a collection of art and framed oddities further establish the readymade lived-in vibe. Slow Haste had been hosting pop-ups at the location prior to the permanent move in.
“It’s really challenging to strike that balance between making it feel homey without making it feel a little too dusty,” Slow Haste Co-Founder Troy Arias told Daily Coffee News. “We don’t want it to feel like a hospital waiting room or like a hotel lobby where it’s just very clean and there’s nothing on the tables. We want it to feel like people come in there and live there, they pass through, and they slow down their routine and have a good time with their community.”
A pourover bar stocked with Fellow kettles and grinders features coffees of unusual and adventurous character roasted by Sunday Coffee Project, another relatively new Portland coffee business that’s been on a similar growth trajectory. Sunday’s Regular Blend lays the basis for an espresso program driven by a Synesso S200 espresso machine.
“Everything we’ve had from Sunday Coffee Project has been phenomenal,” said Arias. “It felt like good timing to support someone that’s getting started in the industry and is supporting us as we get started with what we’re doing.”
The four-way split of business responsibilities has made for a smooth and enjoyable experience for Slow Haste’s owners so far, while Adam Stansell has generally taken the lead on the coffee program.
“There’s a lot of room for creativity from the roasters that we’re directly working with, but also with the producers, and the way that they’re growing and processing their beans,” Stansell told DCN. “I’m always keeping an eye out for people who seem to want to push the industry forward in a new and fun way, because I think we’re also trying to do that with other parts of our business, through our specialty lattes and things like that.”
Slow Haste’s new daily menu features several of the most popular concoctions from past pop-ups, including a latte with charred strawberry and black pepper, and another with raspberry, rose petal and cardamom. A newer concoction called Sweet Dream combines coffee with clarified milk and a dash of hibiscus syrup.
“It’s very floral and tart, and it tastes creamy, but it doesn’t look like it,” Arias said. “It’s pretty refreshing so it’s really good for our summer menu.”
Ethan and Josh Nance round out the Slow Haste ownership team, and all four partners have ties to Portland’s east side coffee community through shops such as No Preference, Saint Simon, Roseline Coffee and the Alberta location of Barista.
All four owners are also relatively recent transplants. The twin Nance brothers moved to the Rose City from Springfield, Missouri, during the pandemic. Arias and Stansell relocated together from Alabama three years ago.
“[Adam and I] have been close friends for over 10 years,” Arias said. “So we have a two-brothers situation and a two-almost-brothers situation.”
With Portland now as their adopted home, the Slow Haste team is embracing a “by Portland, for Portland” ethos, especially as non-local ownership and investments have affected the city’s cafe and restaurant scene.
“Over time, a lot of these shops started to get a lot more corporate,” said Arias. “There were some purchases by private equity based in California and some shifts in the industry. We didn’t want to contribute to that. We’re fully citizens of Portland and of the area, and we want to breathe that life of locally owned coffee shops back into Portland, for sure.”
Slow Haste is located at 2341 NE Glisan St. in Portland, Oregon.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
