☕️ 🗣 with Aaron Fender

A conversation with Portrait Coffee's head roaster and co-founder.

Coffee is probably my favorite vice. When I first started my IG account that lasted a very short time that eventually gave birth to this newsletter many years later, coffee was one of things I had planned to highlight on it. My friend Wilson is responsible for opening my eyes to what coffee could be ever since he served me some home-roasted beans 12 years ago and taught me to look for flavors I never knew could exist in the beverage. So it was inevitable that I’d write about it here sooner or later.

Instead of talking about coffee myself, I’m doing something new this month and bringing you a conversation with Aaron Fender, co-founder of Portrait Coffee. I had to look back in my emails to find my first order from them; turns out it was July of 2020, right smack in the middle of COVID while everyone was working from home. Our at-home coffee consumption, like everyone else’s, had skyrocketed and we were running through beans with a quickness. Portrait, a newer roaster out of Atlanta, GA was recommended to me by the homie Ray and I gave their “Barry” blend a shot. I was hooked, and two weeks later I was back and ordering more - not only for myself, but for friends too. I shouted them out on my Perfectly Imperfect interview later on in the fall. And I felt deep pride when they won Sprudge’s “Notable Roaster” award for 2020, which if you’re in the specialty coffee world is a really, really big deal.

It was in early 2021 that I got linked with Aaron. Within a week of meeting via text, he asked to call me so that we could get to know each other better. I was so intrigued by Aaron’s inquisitive nature - right off the bat he was asking me what I was reading, what I was listening to, and what kind of challenges I was trying to solve at 3sixteen. He had a real spirit of learning about him and I respect that a ton. Last month on a short trip to NYC, Aaron finally connected in person with me and we got to enjoy a meal at Thai Diner. I asked if he would be willing to share about his journey into coffee for the newsletter and he was happy to oblige.

Our conversation is below but what I really want to do is share their coffee with you. I’ll be buying a bag of Portrait beans for five of my subscribers - read on for further details on how to score one for yourself.

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Hit us with a quick little introduction, please.

My name is Aaron and I live in Atlanta with my wife, 1-year-old son, & wild Boston Terrier, Creflo. During the day, I run the operations & coffee program at Portrait Coffee. When I’m not at work, you can probably find me at home playing with my son, drinking a bottle of wine with a friend from 3 Parks or at Staplehouse, or finding a new spot to grub at around town.

Tell me about your journey into specialty coffee.

I started out as a barista at a specialty coffee shop in town. I worked my way through a lot of different opportunities there: managing, training, & helping them open up other stores. Eventually, I had a chance to go to a few farms in Rwanda and see how coffee is grown, processed, exported, & all that. That opportunity really cemented a passion & conviction around coffee.

As far as learning how to roast, it’s funny - we bought this little 1kg sample roaster and I just binged a bunch of YouTube and read a ton of books. I had some incredible friends along the way who were always quick to give advice or feedback on roasts as well. Roasting really has been a process of trial, error, and eventually success. It took a while to find my voice/take on how coffee should be roasted. 

And how did Portrait - both the idea and the business - come about?

It was during those couple weeks in Rwanda that I realized that it was everyone but Black folks - the actual farmers/producers - who were really profiting off of coffee. They’d basically been cropped out. Portrait started out of a burden to include those Black & Brown folks back into the picture frame. Our hope is to change the image that comes to mind when folks think of specialty coffee. 

Some friends Aaron made in Rwanda

As for the journey to start Portrait, I was in between jobs and often found myself starting to jot down in my notes app different ideas for a coffee shop in our neighborhood. I’d drive around town and see what were then vacant buildings and realize that quite soon they’d probably become the white, minimalist-Scandy coffee shops that are littered across the country. I wanted to see something different here in the West End. Through conversations with my wife and a few friends, we started planning a Kickstarter campaign. Three weeks after signing a lease, COVID-19 hit and we made a quick pivot to coffee roasting. Thankfully, the product & message has resonated with people and we’re still here & thriving.

Talk to me a bit about the buying process. What are you looking for when adding to your portfolio of beans you roast?

Nowadays, I spend most of my time focused on evaluating and purchasing green coffee (unroasted coffee is referred to as green coffee). At first glance, we’re always going to consider quality, uniqueness, traceability, price, and potential for relationship building. 

We want to make sure that there’s a degree of fairness between quality, traceability & price - making sure the coffee has been processed cleanly and that producers are being equitably compensated.

Typically, if we’re clear on those things, then we’re talking to the producers about what they’re looking for in a relationship because we want to work with them year-over-year for improved sustainability so that we can make sure that there’s a mutual fit! Lastly, we cup and evaluate as a team. We don’t buy anything that doesn’t leap off the table and gets excited.

Coming back to finding your own voice in roasting - I remember you mentioned to me the last time that we hung out that Portrait customers vary greatly: some are buying specialty coffee for the first time and others are seasoned coffee drinkers. How has that affected your point of view on how Portrait roasts?

That’s a great question! It’s one we’ve had to explore for sure, and I honestly don’t have a complete answer. Right now, we’re experimenting with better communication around what exactly our coffees taste like. We have a few classics that we try to introduce first-time drinkers to: Founders, Toni, Stacey, & Barry. Most of our single origins (seasonal) coffees are going to be for folks that are more familiar with specialty coffee. I think it’s here where we’re experimenting the most. We’re trying to bring in more variety over the next few months - black honeys, anaerobics, & naturally processed coffees. Across the board, we’re trying to embrace experimentation & iterative thinking around product. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve been facing as you scale up and accommodate the growth you’re seeing? 

There’s always tension between wanting to share your story & product with new folks and delivering on the original promise your brand & coffee hopes to deliver. We’re constantly learning there’s a tightrope walk in balancing that quality & growth. There’s nothing more disappointing than a coffee that’s not executed to spec, and we’re constantly working to figure out how to keep quality standards high while inviting new team members & coffees into the mix.

So this newsletter is about vices. Tell me about a few things you like to spend your money and time on - and some recent things that have gotten you hyped outside the world of coffee. 

A little cliche but I’ve really enjoyed tasting and learnincg about wine. I had a chance to stay in Calistoga this past Spring and spend a few days checking out different vineyards. My favorites were a 2017 Pinot Noir from Robert Sinskey Vineyards and a 2019 Pinot Noir from Gundlach Bundschu. My favorite wines have come out of Willamette Valley, most notably a 2017 Pinot from Fossil & Fawn. Their Do Nothing bottle is the perfect Summer sipper too. 

Have you heard about the Lego renaissance? I dunno if that’s really a thing but - I found a profound level of peace dipping back into my childhood and knocking out Razor Crest, Adidas Superstar, & an ol’ Fender guitar. Recommendation: pair a glass of Stolpman Vineyards Gamay Noir with the Adidas set for an incredibly relaxing evening. 

Lastly, I put my Americana big boy pants on a copped a pair of Blackstock & Webers. I went with the Onyx Tassel Loafers & I’ve never been happier with a shoe purchase.

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A big thank you to the homie Aaron for taking the time to chat. As I mentioned at the beginning of this interview, I want to send out some bags of Portrait Coffee and here’s how I’m gonna do it. Peruse their site and then leave a comment on this post with what beans you’d like to try out. I’ll choose 5 at random and then reach out to you directly for your address.