Roasted to Order: La Terra Rossa Sets Feet in Newberg

Michael Youngberg didn’t intend to build a career in the coffee industry, he says — much less did he expect to eventually start a Newberg-based coffee company, La Terra Rossa.

It was a job that came out of circumstance — when he was around 18 years old, he would frequently give his sister a ride to work at a coffee shop and spent a lot of time there. One day, they approached him with a job.

“I was actually a tea drinker around then,” Youngberg said. “I didn’t like coffee at all. But I was tasting shots every day to make sure they were pulling right. Over time, I developed a taste for it and found a love there.”

From his unexpected start, he worked and helped start cafes and roasters all around the state. From the Muddy Waters Coffeehouse in Portland (now closed and replaced by Bare Bones Cafe & Bar) to the Coffee Cat in Newberg, Youngberg’s career in coffee kept moving along with him.

Now, 19 years later, he’s spent more of his life around the coffee industry than outside of it. Starting as a barista, he found himself taking on more responsibility around the cafes where he worked. Before he knew it, he was responsible for front-of-house operations in some places, inventory management in another, machine maintenance here and there, and in one case accounting.

With each different coffee company, tea house, roaster, cafe, and distributor he worked for, he picked up tools of the trade that culminated in his Newberg-based coffee company, La Terra Rossa. 

La Terra Rossa, named after the red dirt of Central Oregon where Youngberg spent his earliest years, was founded on the idea of “planting good seeds,” which influenced its logo, Youngberg calls “The Sower.”

Part of the company is its commitment to participation in bettering communities, whether that be locally or across the world. Youngberg dives into stories about the coffee farmers that harvest his beans, sharing messages of determination and goodwill. One farmer, The Katana Station, helps to increase production and overall quality of the coffee through investment in infrastructure, farmer outreach, and providing access to a global market — all of which can be difficult for a farmer in Africa.

“I had a friend the other day tell me that I’m the first one to give money before paying myself,” Youngberg said. “Which, well he’s probably right. But this is what makes this all make sense to me. This is what I want to do. The money will follow.”

The coffee company started as a pandemic project when the service industry at large experienced a reckoning of employment insecurity. While the idea of La Terra Rossa was floating around in his head and journals for the prior 10 years, having some time stuck at home provided Youngberg the time and space to explore what running his own business would look like.

“I’ve had the name forever,” he said. “Then, over the years, I kind of had the business idea growing. Once the pandemic hit, I felt it was time to bet on myself.”

Youngberg bought a home coffee roaster — capable of producing six ounces of roasted coffee beans at a time, or half of a standard bag of coffee — and started experimenting. YouTube videos informed some of his earliest batches, he said.

“It’s not an industry that freely shares information,” Youngberg said. “There is a lot that’s kept from competition — it’s just the way the industry is. There was a lot of learning to do.”

He briefly roasted La Terra Rossa coffee at Curate Coffee Collective, a co-op roasting space, in Portland until that shut down in 2022. He then brought his roasting operations back to his home roaster, where he roasts coffee to order unless there is a large order that justifies roasting on a commercial roaster.

“At this phase, it’s just easier to roast on a smaller scale to make sure we’re sending out fresh coffee,” Youngberg said. “At this early phase, the worst thing I think I could do is send out stale coffee.”

And that quality control is what drives his brand. Youngberg works to ensure his coffee comes from truly ethical sources that pay their employees and farmers well. He doesn’t necessarily apply “light,” “medium,” and “dark” roasting profiles to beans that come through but rather roasts a small batch, tastes, and then figures out what roast will best suit that bean.

“Labeling beans like that can actually stop people from knowing what they like,” he said. “If someone tried a light roast one time and didn’t like it, they might think they just don’t like light roasts. But it could have been the bean, it could have been stale — there are any number of factors that influence what made it to their cup.”

Because of this, Youngberg describes his coffee with tasting notes rather than identifying them by roast level. He hopes customers will choose something maybe a little out of their comfort zone if the flavors sound like something they’d enjoy — even something like decaf coffee, which he feels is needlessly overlooked because of its reputation.

Across the La Terra Rossa Coffee website, Youngberg also sells other items like tea, coffee filters, and drinking chocolate, setting the stage for what might be to come for the young coffee company. While La Terra Rossa is only an online company now, there are hopes for a future with brick-and-mortar locations.

“I’ve got no desire to be huge or anything,” Youngberg said. “I like being a community thing, and you can’t do that when you’re in too many different communities. But having a few cafes is the dream.”

Learn more about La Terra Rossa at their website, where they have coffee, tea, and other beverage goods available for sale. Newberg-Dundee residents have the option to ship coffee to their house or pick up locally.

Looking to make the best cup of coffee? Here’s how you can get the most out of the coffee in your cup. 

1. Pick the brewer that works for you. There are all so many different options, ranging from an automatic Mr. Coffee brewer to something that looks straight out of a chemist’s lab. Find the one that works for your morning routine, that serves the right amount for you or your household, and then learn the best way to operate the brewer. Pro tip: La Terra Rossa has a few manual coffee brewer guides on its website.
2. Use fresh, whole bean coffee. This one cannot be overstated: just like the spices in our cabinets, the second you grind coffee, it begins the oxidization process that breaks down flavor and aroma compounds. While blade grinders work fine, they can leave some inconsistent results in grind size, which leads to under or over extraction. Automatic or manual burr grinders are recommended. Try and finish whole beans within 4 weeks of its roasting date, and store in an air tight container if you can.
3. If you’re operating a pour over, aeropress, or other manual brewer, learn about the bloom. Blooming your coffee is where you add a smaller amount of water and let the coffee and water rest together for a minute to ensure water permeates all of the grounds for an even extraction. Skipping this step could result in channeling, which could make the coffee taste weaker. 
4. Pick coffee based on how you enjoy it. Not everyone enjoys black coffee, or coffee with cream, or coffee with cream and sugar. But, some coffees will hold up better to adding cream — like roasts with chocolate, nutmeg, or caramel notes. Cream and sugar could dampen the subtle notes of fruit or floral-forward coffees and generally covering the flavors. Do a little experimenting and take note of the ones that strikes your fancy. And never be afraid to experiment.