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It’s no secret that Portland is a coffee town. Whether you’re on Northwest Couch or Northeast Killingsworth, you’re nearly always a stone’s throw from a boutique cafe with new spins on caffeinated classics. And Coffee Breath, a new video series by Double J (aka Jason Johnson) and Chris Flanagan, explores the owners, baristas and consumers behind the Pacific Northwest coffee scene.
If you’re entrenched in the Portland coffee scene, you’ve likely heard of Double J, co-owner of Black Rabbit Service Co. Double J and Alex Lambert started the shop back in 2016 operating out of a garage. Today, they sell and repair equipment out of a 7,500-square-foot warehouse stocked floor to ceiling, excluding a small lounge and a couple of retro arcade games. From Black Rabbit’s inception, Double J set out to bring back-of-house workers into the forefront of coffee culture.
“When we started Black Rabbit, we wanted to be a part of the community,” he says. “We wanted to have events and really open up what we do to people.”
Coffee Breath takes a similar approach. Modeled after Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations (which Double J appeared on for Season 2′s Pacific Northwest episode), the docuseries features Double J as host, while Flanagan captures the conversation-style interviews from behind the camera.
“Watching food television progress to what it has become, we noticed that there’s no coffee or cafe show which is crazy,” Double J says. “It’s such a big part of people’s lives, and there’s no spotlight on this. And it’s not just Portland, it’s everywhere. Think about when you’re traveling somewhere. The first thing you’re figuring out is, where’s my cafe?”
Coffee Breath is a master class on knowing your shit but not taking yourself too seriously. Like many of the cafe owners he interviews, Double J began his coffee career at an early age. At 14, his parents bought a coffee shop and roasting company in Central California where he worked throughout his teenage years.
“I didn’t ever look at coffee and think this is my life,” he says. “At least, not at that age. I was really interested in food and moved to Portland to go to culinary school. But I worked in a coffee shop while I was going to culinary school, so I’ve always had one foot in the coffee thing.”
While highlighting the entrepreneurs working behind the scenes of Portland’s favorite coffee shops, Double J also considers how customers share an equal stake in shaping coffee culture.
“Cafes have always been a place for the weirdos, honestly,” he says. “It’s for young people because they can’t go to the bar and drink. So they gravitate towards coffee shops to socialize and meet people, and I think that just draws creativity and connection. Cafes are special because that community builds around them.”
With only two episodes out currently, Coffee Breath has already gained hundreds of subscribers and thousands of views. And Double J has big plans for the future.
“We would love to be picked up and brought into the fold of a streaming network that already has a community of food and beverage people watching, whatever that may be: Food Network, Netflix, Bravo, you name it,” he says. “There’s so many out there right now, and I think what we’re doing fills a gap in that programming.”
SEE IT: Coffee Breath episodes stream at coffeebreathshow.com.