Daily Paper Coffee Roasters opens, promotes quality experience

Tucked into a corner of the Daily Paper Coffee Roasters drive-thru in Camas, a sign speaks to the owners’ philosophy: “Quality takes time. Thank you for your patience.”

Daily Paper owners Ben and Anita Mikhalets take pride in the quality of their roasted-on-site coffee drinks and in the sweet and savory Eastern European-style treats crafted at Ben’s parents’ bakery — but know that many customers may be used to a much faster coffee drive-thru experience.

“We’re trying to deliver a quality (experience),” Ben said, “and want to be proud of what we do.”

That means some customers may have to wait a couple minutes longer than they would in a fast-food drive-thru, but the results — coffee beans roasted onsite, espresso shots pulled by hand, made-to-order sandwiches and fresh-baked sweet treats — is worth the wait, and the Mikhaletses said they have already, just a few weeks after their Sept. 14 opening, noticed a large number of repeat customers.

The business, located on Northeast Everett Street near the Lake-Everett roundabout, next to the Camas Market and Bakery owned by Ben’s parents, is a dream come true for Ben and Anita.

Both children of European immigrants — Ben’s parents, Olga and Yaroslav Mikhalets, owners of Sweet Touch Bakery and Svitoch European Deli in Vancouver as well as the Camas Market and Bakery at 2940 N.E. Everett St., in Camas, emigrated from Ukraine while Anita’s parents emigrated from Ukraine and Russia — Ben, 27, and Anita, 25, grew up in Camas and were high school sweethearts.

Their relationship survived a long-distance stint while Anita worked at a busy coffee shop in Hawaii and Ben helped run coffee drive-thrus in Illinois and Florida. Eventually, the couple returned to their hometown, threw a pared-down wedding during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and started planning their future together.

Ben had grown up in an entrepreneurial family and helped his parents sell their baked goods at the Vancouver bakery and at local farmers’ markets, including the Camas Farmer’s Market every Wednesday afternoon during the summer and fall months. Anita trained at Kona Coffee Purveyors, a beloved Hawaiian coffee roaster, and learned the art of creating a quality espresso drink. Ben, who had been roasting coffee beans since 2018, honed his coffee-roasting skills at the Buckman Coffee Factory in Portland, which offers a series of coffee-roasting courses and acts as an incubator for small, coffee-related businesses.

When Ben’s parents purchased the Camas Market in 2023, Ben and Anita realized the property would be an ideal site for the coffee roaster-cafe they’d been dreaming about.

Daily Paper — a nod to Ben’s high school mascots, the Camas High School Papermakers — went from concept to grand opening within the span of just one year.

“We broke ground in March and the build was pretty quick,” Ben said.

Today, the couple oversees nearly a dozen employees at Daily Paper and are focusing on growing their business – offering a coffee bean subscription service, for instance — without sacrificing the quality of their products.

When they have free time, Ben and Anita love spending time with their families’ dogs, exploring the outdoors, surfing on the Oregon coast and traveling the U.S. to take in the country’s multitude of diverse cultures.

For now, however, running Daily Paper is an adventure in itself and the couple said they are grateful to own a small business in their hometown.

The Daily Paper coffee roastery and drive-thru is located at 3016 N.E. Everett St., in Camas, and is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit dailypapercoffee.com or instagram.com/dailypapercoffee, call 360-921-3251 or email dailypaperc offee@gmail.com.