Push x Pull

Push x Pull was started in 2018 by Christopher Hall and Emma Mansanti around a simple idea, that how a coffee is fermented and processed matters as much as where it grows. The Stark Street cafe sources natural, honey, and anaerobic lots from Guatemala, Indonesia, and Uganda, often pouring them side by side as tasting flights so the differences are easy to taste.

The shop earned an early reputation for pulling some of the best espresso in Portland, and it expanded to a second cafe in Seattle's Central District in 2022. The Stark Street room is compact, better suited to a short laptop session at the sidewalk tables than an all day camp, but the wifi is fast and the cortados and natural process espresso keep a steady stream of regulars moving through.