Cup and Bar Cafe/Roastery Set to Open This Week

Portland does beer. And liquor. And it most definitely does coffee. But lately, our food industry folks seem to be getting their hands dirty in other ways, and chief among them is bean-to-bar chocolate making. Just last week we took a peak inside Creo Chocolate, the manufactory that would've been Portland's latest bean-to-bar spot were it not for the impending opening of Cup and Bar, a collaborative coffee roastery and chocolate manufactory courtesy of Trailhead Coffee Roaster's Charlie Wicker and Ranger Chocolate's Patrick and Rhonda Zender, George Domurot and the very appropriately named David Beanland.

The five friends have split the 6,400 square-foot roasting space and are sharing a 1,500-square-foot cafe that seats between 30 and 40. You should expect, of course, Trailhead espresso drinks, as well as the trio of bars for which Ranger is known (the beans in each are single-sourced from three different regions in Peru, and the bars are all dark chocolate, falling somewhere between 70 and 80 percent cacao).

But there's much more on tap, too, including drinking chocolates, sandwiches, homemade granola, chocolate desserts, chocolate-covered donuts, and chocolate and vanilla bean-cacao-nib ice creams. And there are collaborations between both ventures, as well. Think affogatos and drinks like the "Dirty Charlie," a chocolatey macchiato. And the five are even experimenting with putting drinking chocolate on tap.

As of today, the gang is hoping to open the doors by the end of this week. However, if final inspections are delayed it could take another week or two. Stay tuned.