Nossa Familia Coffee
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Nossa Familia Coffee is a Portland-based specialty coffee roaster founded in 2004 by Augusto Carneiro, a Brazilian native who sought to bring his family's century-old coffee heritage to the United States. The company is notable for its direct-trade model, emphasis on long-term relationships with farmers, and its status as Oregon's first Certified B Corp coffee roaster.
Nossa Familia Coffee, which translates to 'Our Family' in Portuguese, was established in 2004 by Augusto Carneiro. A former mechanical engineer who moved from Rio de Janeiro to Portland, Oregon, Carneiro founded the company to share the coffee produced by his family’s farms in the highlands of Brazil, a tradition dating back to the 1890s. The company began as an unconventional operation, initially focusing on importing his family's coffee on consignment without a dedicated roasting facility or café.
Over the past two decades, the company has evolved from a small import project into a multi-location roasting and retail business. It operates a roastery in Northwest Industrial Portland and maintains several café locations within the city. The company’s growth has been marked by a transition from exclusively sourcing from family-owned Brazilian fazendas to developing a broader network of direct-trade relationships with smallholder and family farmers in regions including Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, and Ethiopia.
The core of the company's business model is its commitment to direct trade and supply chain transparency. By working closely with producers, the company aims to foster long-term, mutually beneficial relationships that extend beyond simple commodity transactions. This approach is intended to ensure social responsibility and economic stability for the farmers involved, treating them as an extension of the company's own family.
Sustainability is a central pillar of the company's operations, which it defines as the ability to sustain the environment, the community, and the business itself. In practice, this includes the use of Loring roasting machines, which are designed to be more energy-efficient than traditional roasters. The company’s commitment to these principles led it to become the first coffee roaster in Oregon to achieve Certified B Corporation status, a designation that recognizes companies meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
In addition to its roasting operations, the company maintains a diverse product line that includes single-origin coffees, blends, and decaffeinated options. Its retail presence serves as a platform for community engagement, with a focus on creating approachable spaces for coffee education and consumption. The company also engages in wholesale distribution, supplying coffee to local grocery stores, cafés, and restaurants throughout the region.
Today, Nossa Familia Coffee stands as a representative of the specialty coffee movement in the Pacific Northwest, balancing its historical roots in Brazilian coffee production with modern, ethical business practices. Its story reflects a broader industry shift toward prioritizing the human element of the supply chain, emphasizing that the quality of the final cup is inextricably linked to the strength of the relationships formed at the origin.