Good Coffee Takes Time. So Do Good Things.

In 2018, Maya Chen left her job as a food scientist at a major coffee company. Not because she didn't love coffee—she loved it too much. She was tired of watching beans get roasted to anonymity and milk alternatives treated as afterthoughts.

She found a former auto repair shop on Division Street with good bones and terrible plumbing. Her brother Daniel, a contractor with more optimism than sense, said he could have it ready in three months. It took eight.

The first year was brutal. Maya burned through savings, learned to fix an espresso machine at 5 AM, and discovered that "regulars" are made, not found. But slowly, Ember & Oak became what she'd imagined: a place where coffee is a craft, not a commodity.

Today, we roast our own beans in small batches, source oat milk from a farm in Willamette Valley, and make pastries that Maya's grandmother would recognize—if not entirely approve of. (She still thinks American coffee is too weak.)

We're not trying to change the world. We're just trying to make your morning a little better.