Speckled Ax

Speckled Ax Roasting high quality organics and small lot estate coffees in a vintage Petroncini fired with local sap and fruitwood.
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Our Thames and Congress Street locations will both be closing at noon on Friday August 7. The air conditioning units in ...
08/07/2026

Our Thames and Congress Street locations will both be closing at noon on Friday August 7. The air conditioning units in both locations have s**t the bed (as people who are extremely frustrated about this kind of s**t happening in high season say), so we're gonna caffeinate folks in the AM and then call it a day as the heat accumulates inside our spaces. Please come down and get a coffee before lunch. Walton will be open regular hours. Thanks for your business and understanding.

Last night I realized I didn't have any coffee at home. This happens more often than you'd think. Or maybe not. The cobb...
07/31/2026

Last night I realized I didn't have any coffee at home. This happens more often than you'd think. Or maybe not. The cobbler's children have no shoes, as the saying goes. And the coffee we do have in our house--when we have it--is usually not fresh from the roastery. It's something that USPS returned as undeliverable, or a mix of samples from a cupping, or a bag that got lost in the back of a cabinet at a shop. When I do have first-quality stuff, it's usually in the context of work, which means tasting (as opposed to drinking), which usually entails attempting to detect what might be wrong. Did this batch go two degrees too hot? Can I taste any fade in the Ethiopia that's starting to get long in the tooth? Etc. Anyway, last night I ran down to the Thames shop, got myself a fresh bag of Bird Dog (it's what we had the most of), ground it (our home Bodum grinder on its last legs and makes a horrible sound that makes my children cry), and set it up for this am. Turns out I ground it way too tight, because the fines at the bottom of my cone filter choked out the brew. I had to shut the brewer off and on a couple of times to keep the filter from overflowing, and had to keep stirring the grounds and flicking the little stopper on my 23 year old Technivorm open and closed in order to get the liquid to flow into the carafe. It was comical, from a coffee pro perspective. Bottom line is it took maybe 15 minutes to brew, so technically, it was overextracted. When I filled my mug I wasn't expecting much. But you know what? It is F'ing GLORIOUS! It's fudgy, and has a bit of fruit, and some caramel, and a little bit of lemony acidity on top. So, why am I telling you this? I could say something about art vs science, or taste being a subjective or personal thing, but really I just wanted to gloat a little bit, as a proud papa. Our coffee is really good. The beans we buy are great, and the roastery crew kicks ass every day. And it has been such a pleasure this AM to just be a sleepy guy looking forward to that first sip, to muck it up completely, and still have my expectations exceeded. That is all.

Check it out. We are now serving Forage Market bagels at our Thames and Congress Street locations. (They'll be at our ro...
07/22/2026

Check it out. We are now serving Forage Market bagels at our Thames and Congress Street locations. (They'll be at our roastery coffee bar on Walton once we figure out our air conditioning issues.) Even better, you can get this house-made cream cheese spread that makes it a meal. What's in there, you ask? Smoked mackerel, tobiko (flying fish roe), half sour pickle, chive, capers. A little smoky, a little salty, and a little tangy, with all kinds of textures that create a party in your mouth. Add that to the foundation of a crunchy edged, chewy, wood fired Forage bagel, and you've got a Portland version of a NY staple that will make tourists from the Upper West Side say "Barney GreenWho?" And get this--we take credit cards! And your bill won't be $232.

Yo--have you paid attention to what's on the top shelf in our little warming case at Thames? Breakfast burritos. They ar...
07/07/2026

Yo--have you paid attention to what's on the top shelf in our little warming case at Thames? Breakfast burritos. They are legit. Like, top shelf. Avocado oil flour tortilla, a silky slab of baked egg, chunks of potato that the kitchen crew confits in oil saturated with bay leaves (they get super creamy), a schmear of smashed Oaxacan-style black beans, a little bit of queso fresco, and house-made arbol chili salsa. (Not too spicy, but we have Cholula packets as well, if that's how you roll.) They wait for you every day until noon or so, and they are DELICIOUS! Start a new habit today.

It's gonna be another hot one tomorrow, and Speckled Ax will be open in all of its air conditioned Old Glory! What bette...
07/04/2026

It's gonna be another hot one tomorrow, and Speckled Ax will be open in all of its air conditioned Old Glory! What better way to celebrate this great nation than by participating in the exchange of money for goods and services! Real capitalism--not the BS billionaire crony insider trading lecherous bitcoin corruption taking place in the white house, but the real thing! Also, if you walk up Congress Street tomorrow headed to the prom for the fireworks, there's a good chance a few kids will be selling lemonade and (ahem) sparklers outside near the end of Atlantic Street. Save some cash for them as well. Cheers!

Speckled Ax didn't enter the Good Food Awards this year. I've posted the majority of my note to the Good Food Foundation...
06/30/2026

Speckled Ax didn't enter the Good Food Awards this year. I've posted the majority of my note to the Good Food Foundation here (I left out a paragraph about the awards ceremony I attended last year), so you can see where I was coming from. (I should also say that, as the chief bottle washer of Speckled Ax, I take full responsibility for these decisions and posts, for better or worse.) I considered making this post in September, during the submission period, but I wanted to give the Good Food Foundation an opportunity to respond. They did, but didn't really have much to say, other than that they "understand and respect my position," and that they hope they might "regain [our] confidence in the future," and that "we might see the value a small nonpartisan nonprofit like Good Food strives to provide for U.S. food crafters." Sometimes it's difficult to know when (and when not) to use this business platform as it pertains to "politics." But this doesn't seem like one of those times. It's messed up that we've paid for the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and obliterated a place in the process. It's also sort of tricky to know what to expect or require of other organizations with which we do business. (Do I need our bar towel supplier to take a public stance on Gaza? I guess not.) But an organization that deals with ethical food production needs to speak up when billions of our tax dollars have been used to starve a people. || I hope this sort of post isn't counterproductive. I really like what the Good Food Foundation has championed, and we've been psyched to see our work--and that of the farmers who grow and process the coffee--be recognized for quality. But the idea of sending in a coffee for evaluation this year just felt bad. I think I was more angry when I wrote the note than I am at present. (I hope it's not because of inertia.) Now? I just feel kind of sad.

Boom Chain #7 will only last another week or so. Grab a box while you have the chance!
06/03/2026

Boom Chain #7 will only last another week or so. Grab a box while you have the chance!

So, I just conducted a tiny experiment. I brewed a half batch of our current iteration of Chickadee Decaf, gave it to tw...
05/27/2026

So, I just conducted a tiny experiment. I brewed a half batch of our current iteration of Chickadee Decaf, gave it to two people in the roastery without telling them what it was, and asked them what they tasted and how they liked it. FOH: plum, juicy, nice. BOH: yellow fruits, caramel, delightful. Not only did these coffee pros NOT make a sad scrunchy face and say "what is this?" They thought it was tasty! And I concur. A big part of the secret sauce may be that half of its composition is a pricey NATURAL process Peru. And while I certainly wouldn't call this Chick a fruity coffee, it's got some character. Coffee is beat up and put through the proverbial meat grinder during the decaffeination process, so perhaps it makes sense that a quality natural would hold onto more of its character after the fact. In any case, this Chickadee is quite good. Try pulling the same experiment with folks in your life, and tell us how it goes!

My job is not especially taxing, but every once in a while i have to tend to pretty disgusting issues--behind-the-scenes...
05/21/2026

My job is not especially taxing, but every once in a while i have to tend to pretty disgusting issues--behind-the-scenes stuff that allow us to pull shots of espresso, for instance. I own maybe 6 or 7 pairs of jeans, and 5 of them have holes in a knee. Fortunately i have a creative and generous and skilled partner who likes to do this sort of stuff (pic 2!). And you can learn how to do it--along with other cool stuff--yourself, for free! Just follow

Address

567 Congress Street
Portland, ME
04101

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 3pm
Thursday 8am - 3pm
Friday 8am - 3pm
Saturday 8am - 3pm
Sunday 8am - 3pm

Telephone

+12076603333

Website

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