Attention Coffee’s First Shop in Portland Adds Focus to Fitness

At the new Attention Coffee bar in Portland, Oregon. All images courtesy of Attention Coffee.

Bringing fitness, wellness and fresh roasts together, the first Attention Coffee shop has opened inside the shared lobby of BodyRiot in Portland, Oregon’s Sellwood neighborhood.

The shop builds off a classic coffee menu with additional drinks designed to fuel and replenish studio guests. Attention Coffee Owner and Roaster Andrew Plambeck said he wants to meet crossover guests with a drink that makes them “feel great,” which may not necessarily be a hot coffee after a sauna session or group class.

A drink called the Pump Cooler is described as a pre-workout blend of coconut water, beetroot, maca and cordyceps. The Tart Cherry Cooler is a recovery-minded mix of coconut water, tart cherry juice, magnesium, pink salt and L-theanine.

The shop also offers traditional espresso-based drinks through a Nuova Simonelli Appia Life machine, batch brews through a Bunn system and cold brew through a ColdPerk Café 2 system. 

Plambeck’s wife, Caroline Plambeck, is the founder of BodyRiot (styled “bodyRIOT” by the company), the Sellwood wellness business that evolved from YogaRiot, which has been in the neighborhood for more than a decade. The studio combines strength training, yoga, Pilates and integrated recovery, including contrast therapy.

The spouse-owned businesses now share a community area in a building that’s more than 100 years old and underwent more than 10 months of renovation to accommodate the multiple uses.

“Its previous use was pretty convoluted with a huge open space and lots of small rooms and closets in strange places, so we took down a lot of walls and always had a vision of where yoga, fitness, recovery and coffee would be in the end,” Andrew said. 

Bright pops of color throughout the shared space now add to the lively fitness vibe. 

“We wanted to put a lot of ourselves into it,” Andrew said. “We wanted it to be very comfortable and welcoming and inviting. We both like a lot of color and we’ve been trying to really make some pops of boldness, and I think that fits with both of the brands.”

Before diving into coffee, Andrew Plambeck’s career involved public policy work, including time in former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office in the 2010s. He developed a passion for home roasting during the COVID-19 pandemic, eventually using a Skywalker-brand roaster from China. He now handles Attention’s production roasting on a Loring machine at the Portland co-roastery Buckman Coffee Factory.

Attention’s initial coffee offerings have included selections from Costa Rica, Peru and Ethiopia sourced through importers including Hacienda La Minita and Vril Wholesale.

The name Attention was inspired in part by the growing family’s busy schedule, in which quiet moments of yoga-like reflection or thoughtful consumption of a carefully crafted beverage can be drowned out by frenetic children or entrepreneurial duties. 

“You really appreciate the time that you do get to take a moment for your practice and a moment for yourself,” he said. “I find that quiet moment where I can make my first cup of coffee, usually an hour and a half to two hours after I’ve woken up, to really appreciate that moment and use it as a ritual.”

For guests visiting the shop, that ritual might include ingredients like L-theanine, available as a supplement to any drink. The shop also offers mushroom add-ins and blends, such as a chaga, lion’s mane and reishi blend in Attention’s hot cocoa. Adaptogenic mocktails are coming soon, Andrew said.

On the food side, local pastries come from Dos Hermanos Bakery alongside protein bars, yogurts and oatmeal cups. Additional partnerships are in the works for grab-and-go options and in-house vegan and celiac-friendly French pastries. 

As the cafe settles into its daily routine, Andrew plans to expand the wholesale coffee business, while hosting more public events such as tastings, classes or retreats. 

“We want to help people continue to learn about and explore their health, discovering what makes them feel their best,” he said. “So we’ll work to bring in all sorts of partners working in that space.”

Attention Coffee and BodyRiot are now open at 8532 SE 17th Avenue in Portland, Oregon.

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