Founder
Duane Sorenson and Stumptown Coffee Roasters have been labeled as part of the
third wave of coffee movement. Sorenson and his employees visited coffee farms in person and reportedly paid high prices for beans, occasionally three or four times the
fair trade price. He once set the record for highest price ever paid for coffee beans. Sorenson also offered atypical perks to his employees such as paying for a compilation album to be produced of their various bands, and hiring a full-time on-staff massage therapist. Stumptown received the
Roaster of the Year 2006, an award from a technical trade magazine called
Roast Magazine In 2015, Stumptown Coffee Roasters was bought by
Peet's Coffee for an undisclosed amount. In September 2009, the company also launched a cafe in New York's Ace Hotel. A temporary "pop-up" location appeared in Amsterdam's De Pijp neighborhood in May 2010. Opened by Sorenson, he claimed it was never intended to be permanent and closed its doors that same year. In 2013, Stumptown opened a second New York City café and a café/roaster in Los Angeles. Additional cafes have also opened in Chicago and New Orleans. Stumptown opened their third New York cafe in a historic Brooklyn firehouse in the summer of 2018. A location at the
Portland International Airport opened in 2024. == Reception ==