Today Chucks is Checkin’ In with Happy Cup Coffee in Portland, OR.
Happy Cup Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster with two goals:
1) To offer employment at a competitive wage to adults with disabilities in our local community
2) To deliver a great tasting cup of artisan coffee
Owners Frank McLaughlin and Mike Sherman provide a pathway for individuals who have aged out of special education programming. Happy Cup offers life skill building for special needs adults. Their “People with Potential” have a hand in every aspect of the business. Bagging, labeling, weighing coffee and developing the creative blend names. Normally, Happy Cup employs 14-18 workers but at the start of COVID, a lot of their employees couldn’t work due to restrictions on those living in group homes. They hope that they will be able to bring all of their workers back soon.
A typical day at Happy Cup starts with a morning cleaning, 5 AM roasting and later in the day, order processing leaving the afternoons for product delivery at local retailers. Happy Cup typically produces 200-250 bags of coffee per day with their most popular roast being “The Buzz” and “Happy Heart”.
Happy Cup coffee is ethically farmed and traded from coffee growing regions throughout the world.
When asked about their plans for the future, their hopes are to open a retail coffee shop location in March 2021. You can find Happy Cup coffee beans at our Salmon Creek location.
