Bloom City Sensation

By: Laura Shaver  Photos by: Rachel Benavides

Bloom City Coffee’s newest location in Portland – the café – welcomes “guests,” not customers, and greets them with top-notch hospitality. “We are not just here to serve drinks, we are here to make our guests feel like part of our family,” says co-owner Thomas Wooldridge.

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In this modern setting, guests won’t only find friendly and familiar faces. Offering a higher-end menu of coffees and food items than the Bloom City Counter at the HEB in Portland, the café brings a “fine dining experience to coffee,” Wooldridge says. While the counter continues to serve trendy American coffee drinks, such as frappuccinos, the café serves coffee in a more traditional style. 

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A macchiato consists of two ounces of espresso with milk foam on top, and all lattes at the café come only in a 12-ounce serving size. Simplicity is the theme of the menu, to keep the experience less complicated than other popular coffee joints for loyal guests. 

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Bloom locally sources ingredients, including fresh, cream-top milk from Waco and honey from a native Portland bee keeper. They make all sauces and syrups in house. “These efforts may seem small, but we’re doing it different than most other businesses in Portland, and that will make a difference,” says Wooldridge.

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All of Bloom’s coffee recipes are dialed in to maximize the taste of the coffee itself. A lot of effort goes into roasting the beans, which come from all around the world. It’s a hands-on experience, with no more than six pounds of coffee roasted at one time. 

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The cool atmosphere and food items only add to the café’s allure. Wi-fi is available to all guests, with outlets at each table for electronic devices. All-day food offerings include a sunrise panini, which has been described as the best breakfast sandwich around, and a chicken salad wrap made with a lemon-poppy seed dressing. And new to the menu are “Bloomology” offerings – two mocktails made with coffee or tea, including a “dark and stormy” in which the bourbon is replaced with a Costa Rican coffee with a whiskey influence. 

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The drive-thru at Bloom is set up in its own part of the building, with its own equipment and staff, so there is never interruption between café guests and drive-thru guests, and hardly even a slowdown in the lane outside. “We put in the extra effort, and our guests will come back for it,” says Wooldridge. 

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