Coava is one of the two or three roasters people point to when they explain why Portland takes coffee as seriously as it does, and the S.O. Blend is the bag that best explains why. It’s not a “safe” blend in the boring sense — it’s a genuinely well-built cup that happens to also be easy to drink every day.
Who Coava Coffee Is
Coava started in 2008 in the North Portland garage of Matt Higgins, a barista and roaster who bootstrapped the business by fixing motorcycles on the side while he got it off the ground. The name comes from the Norwegian word for unroasted green coffee — a small detail that says a lot about how seriously the company thinks about the raw material before it ever hits a roaster. Higgins studied agriculture and farm practices specifically so he could evaluate sourcing decisions himself, and he built relationships with farmers in regions most roasters weren’t paying attention to yet.
The flagship brew bar on SE Grand opened in 2010, and by 2017 Coava had outgrown enough spaces to build a 10,000-square-foot roastery in Southeast Portland, plus a second location in San Diego. In 2018, Higgins was named Oregon’s Small Business Person of the Year. The roastery also got a moment of unexpected fame when Jerry Seinfeld brought Fred Armisen there for an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee — which, if nothing else, is a decent sign that the coffee holds up under scrutiny.
What’s Actually in the Bag
The S.O. Blend is Coava’s flagship, built from seasonally rotating lots — usually a mix of Colombia, Brazil, and Ethiopia — chosen to balance out into something consistent year-round even as the individual origins change. Expect chocolate-covered fruit, honeycrisp apple, and dark caramel, with a sweetness up front and a crisp acidity that keeps it from feeling heavy. Coava roasts the S.O. Blend in two separate profiles, one dialed for drip and filter brewing and one for espresso — worth a glance at your bag or order details to make sure you’ve got the filter roast if you’re brewing pour-over, since the espresso roast will taste noticeably darker and heavier in a V60.
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Coava Coffee Roasters — S.O. Blend, 10.58oz Whole Bean
Seasonally rotating Colombia/Brazil/Ethiopia blend. Chocolate-covered fruit, honeycrisp apple, dark caramel. Roasted in Portland, OR.
How to Brew It
The acidity and fruit notes come through best with a slightly lower temperature than you’d use for a straight medium roast — aim for 200–204°F rather than a full boil. A standard 1:16 ratio on a V60 or Kalita Wave works well; if it tastes thin or sour, tighten the grind slightly before you change anything else. This is a blend that rewards a bit of attention, which is really the whole pitch for buying from a roaster like Coava in the first place.