BEST Coffee Will Open in Portland Food Hall's Mezzanine

A reader tipped me off to an Instagram account called BEST Coffee, and with a name like that it’s probably no surprise that we were curious and intrigued at the same time. So I did a little digging and figured out who to contact with questions, and so I did. Here is what I learned.

Marley Abeyta and the Origin of BEST Coffee

Marley is the person behind BEST Coffee, and was kind enough to fill me in on her plans for the cafe. She spent many years working in the coffee industry—recent positions include time at the cafe that used to be inside Spin Laundry Lounge in NE Portland, and at Nossa Familia in the Pearl. She is looking forward to bringing her experience, knowledge, and passion to BEST Coffee.

As they say, “necessity is the mother of invention,” it was a layoff that inspired her to move forward in this direction.

“It has always been my dream to have my own coffee shop,” she said. “And after 15 years of dedicated service to the coffee industry I have decided to make the leap! I was recently laid off from my cafe management job after the company closed my store to minimize costs, and for the first time in adulthood found myself with some free time—which I decided to dedicate entirely to the formation of BEST.”

BEST Coffee: What To Expect

As I mentioned earlier, they will be taking over the mezzanine level upstairs in the Portland Food Hall. This is not to be confused with the Pine Street Market—another Portland food hall. Portland Food Hall is about six blocks south of Pine Street Market, on SW 2nd Avenue between Taylor and Yamhill.

They plan to serve Carnelian Coffee there at the cafe. “Luke and Katie, the founders of Carnelian, have been longtime close friends and mentors to me,” remarked Marley.

Look for a variety of espresso drinks (all shots pulled as doubles), including latte, mocha, cappucchino, and cortado. Drip coffee will also be available—something I hear more and more Portlanders want these days. Aside from coffee, they will be matcha, chai latte, tea, and hot chocolate. You can get vanilla, lavender, and piloncillo syrups. Aside from dairy, oat and almond milks will be options.

The BEST Coffee Instagram also indicates they’ll be serving bread from Black Cauldron Baking Company.

Service and Quality

Marley has a strong love of community and that translates into her work in creating BEST Coffee. “The idea behind BEST is really just a focus on service and quality,” said Marley. “My passion in life—aside from coffee—is being of service to my community, and I want to focus on the customer experience. I want customers to feel like I am working for them, because I am!”

She continued, “I also want to highlight the camaraderie and solidarity in the working class by offering discounts for folks who work in the service industry, by accepting trades and offering discounts for union cards, food handler’s cards, OLCC server’s permits, etc.”

Aesthetics of BEST Coffee

Marley has been building this business on a budget (as she says, “built from a barista’s wages”), so the buildout is not going to be super fancy. A diner aesthetic is actually what she is aiming for.

“I come from a long line of servers, so the aesthetic itself is inspired by the diner restaurant that I grew up in: Patti’s Restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado,” she explained. “My grandmother was a server there for all of my childhood, and so my love for classic diner mugs and old school red vinyl runs deep!”

She continued, “I wanted to make sure that the diner vibe was able to shine through, so it was imperative for me to find a space with counter seating to foster the social environment that come naturally to coffee shops.”

She ended with this: “I am so excited to share my passion with the folks of Portland, and can’t even explain how thankful I am for the kind people who have been listening to me talk about open my own coffee shop for the last decade.”

Wishing Marley only the best as she realizes this longtime dream of hers.

Look for them to open later this summer.

BEST Coffee [projected opening August 2025]
827 SW 2nd Avenue, Portland
BEST Coffee website | Instagram