Bikey Businesses: Steel Bridge Coffee joins Fox Blue and Salem Weekly in Bike Delivery

Last fall Joseph Penner started roasting small batches of coffee and delivering them by bike around Salem. He calls his business Steel Bridge Coffee, in honor of the Union Street Railroad Bridge.

Joseph and I were going to get together in late November for a story, but with weather and the holidays we never managed to connect.

In the meantime, they've worked on a neat video. Check out the second half for the bike delivery!



To roast Joseph uses hot air rather than cast iron:

We roast our beans in small batches using an American-designed Sivetz roaster, manufactured in Corvallis, Oregon. Sivetz roasters operate by forcing hot air through the beans (convection heating), which circulates the beans in the roasting chamber. By contrast, traditional European drum roasters utilize conduction heating and circulate the beans with a rotating drum. Convection roasters (like the Sivetz) tend to develop a coffee's "brightness" whereas conduction roasters will tend to develop a coffee's "body."

Steel Bridge joins a couple of other businesses that deliver by bike. Maybe the cargo bike with the longest history of use in Salem is the Salem Weekly Wagon.

Over at Fox Blue, David Fox delivers blueprints and other material to businesses downtown. (Photo by William Bragg.)

Do you know of other Salem businesses that deliver by bike?

I would be remiss not to mention our B on B sponsor, and the talk about roasting technique provides a splendid reason!

The Governor's Cup Coffee Roasters uses a cast iron drum roaster. In addition to adding body, I would also say that the iron develops the coffee's sweetness. I always think of it like the difference between the tender crisp of a stir-fried onion and sweetness of a caramelized onion. One's not necessarily better than the other, but they are pleasantly different!

The Gov Cup also added a liquor license recently, too, so don't forget the music and libations.