Bard Coffee

Bard Coffee opened on Middle Street in Portland's Old Port in 2009 with what its team has described as a singular aim: give the neighborhood a coffee experience it hadn't had before. That mission runs through sourcing as much as service — the roastery buys from the same growers year after year, arguing that repeat purchasing lets it invest directly in consistently exceptional lots and gives farmers stability that coffee-growing regions don't always offer. The current catalog draws on Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica in Central America, Ethiopia's Sidamo and Guji zones, Colombia, and Vietnam, roasted in-house across roughly two dozen single-origin and blended coffees. The bright, airy café became enough of a neighborhood fixture to win the 2025 Portland Old Port Best of Awards for both Best Coffee Shop and Best Iced Coffee. Beyond espresso and pour-over, Bard makes its own syrups with wildflower honey and Maine maple for seasonal drinks, and keeps reliable WiFi for the working crowd that treats the shop as a second office. An online shop extends the Middle Street counter into brewing gear, whole-bean subscriptions and wholesale accounts, letting the same origin-focused list that anchors the physical café reach customers well outside Portland.